


Sugar, Spice, and Nothing Nice

by SlayQueen16



Category: Naruto
Genre: Bitchy preteen girl, Character Growth, Character-centric, Childhood Friends, Childhood Trauma, Consistent Sasuke, Eventual Smart Naruto, F/M, Falling In Love, Haruno Sakura Replacement fic, I'm Bad At Tagging, Kakashi isn't going to be with Akane. Sorry, Multi, Original Character(s), Possessive Behavior, badass female characters, naruto rewrite
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:54:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24124717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlayQueen16/pseuds/SlayQueen16
Summary: (Sakura replacement story) New girl, Akane, is ninja Regina George, but what makes up for such vanity and egocentrism is her exceptional ninja skills she worked hard for. But no one is infallable, and the shinobi life shapes and molds her and the rest of her comrades into a different people. Will she and the rest of the shinobi world manage? (Lots of changes in plot and character development; click if intrigued)
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Original Female Character(s), Hyuuga Hinata/Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke/Original Female Character(s), Uzumaki Naruto/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 24





	1. The Princess Complex

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you would like to see my art of this fanfiction I have a deviantart page with the same username. The folder is called Sugar, Spice, and Nothing Nice, but I have linked the image of what she looks like in the Naruto art style linked at the beginning of the chapter.

It was warm, so warm that the sunshine melted on her body and covered her in its glorious love. She smiled as she surrounded herself with the gentle serenity of pounding waves. She let out a sigh as she imagined feeling the cool sand in her toes.

BLEEP. BLEEP. BLEEP. BLEEP.

A green eye cracked open in irritation and glared at the offending machine that dared to wake her. A fist came down hard, silencing its incessant wail. Reluctantly, she sat up and stretched her arms, hearing them pop softly. She yawned and considered falling back to sleep and skip the day. But she wouldn't dare do that. Today was important.

She hopped out of bed and made it up with all its intricately placed pillows against the headboard. She then stripped herself of her pajamas and threw them in her hamper. She then slipped on her pink, white laced crop top; her pink, white laced, apron skirt; grey shorts slightly longer than her skirt; deep blue genin shoes; and last but not least her forehead protector tied around the thigh opposite of her weapon holster.

Then she fixed her hair by brushing the long, red strands lovingly in the mirror. She was the only kid in her class and person she knew of in the entire village who had red hair. She learned about genetics in one of her biology classes, so she knew it was a rarity. It just made her love her hair all the more.

She looked at herself in her full length mirror against the back of her door. The outfit hugged her particular frame in all the right ways: it showed off her flat stomach; her skinny legs; and her tiny, twelve year old, ninja in training self. And perhaps, she hoped, it hid the fact that she lacked a chest, butt, or feminine curves. She'd been hoping it would come in real soon, but it seemed her body was taking its sweet time in developing into a young woman.

 _Joy_.

"Akane," she heard her mother from the kitchen. "Breakfast is ready."

"In a minute, Mom!" she shouted back.

Her green eyes rolled before she headed over to her vanity set. She began to apply her makeup. It was a fairly new thing for her. Just a few months ago the preteen went with her best friend to spend her birthday money on cosmetics — without permission from her parents albeit.

For her green eyes and red hair to look good the lady behind the counter suggested gold and brown which Akane took advantage of. Meticulous about her appearance, like always, the girl applied her liquid foundation via a big brush. Then she put on the gold along her eyelids, and then penciled in her waterline and the line along the back of her eyelashes with the color brown.

Next, it was red lips to match her red hair.

Was it over dramatic for daytime and a twelve year old girl? Yes. It was indeed her first time dealing with makeup, and it was exciting. Experimenting with it was definitely fun. And she knew that she'd definitely be the prettiest girl in school with this much makeup on her face and these clothes. When everyone looked at her no one would dare make fun of her or gossip.

She stepped out of her room and closed the door behind her. Then, refusing to gain a single pound, only grabbed a piece of toast her mom set out. She totally skipped out on her miso soup and bowl of rice. Which, of course, her mom noticed that she wasn't going to eat a healthy volume of food to start the day off with.

"You're not eating your breakfast?" she asked.

"Carbs make you fat," Akane said easily. "I'm not going to eat it."

"Fine, more for me then," her mom said.

"Whatever."

The young girl left her home and headed onto school with a swagger. Well, her mom didn't bother her about her makeup. Again. It seemed she was fine with it. Fine by Akane. It made her feel good; like no one would dare talk crap about her looking this good. After all, none of the other girls were allowed to wear makeup. She hoped the girls in her class would be jealous actually. That meant she was winning.

She walked along the street without a thought on anyone else. She shoved them down. It was about her and her alone. That was how it ought to be.

"Akane!" she heard her best friend call.

She turned, causing her red hair to swish to the other side of her face. "Ino," she said in acknowledgment with a small smile.

"Oh my God, your makeup looks fantastic! How did you even leave your house like that?! My dad totally busted me!" she groaned dramatically as they walked on. "You totally rule!"

"I know," she smirked. "So last night I was watching…."

The two arrived at class a few minutes before it started. Today was a big day. It was the day that she'd be sorted into her team. She didn't know how many members or who the members would be. Nonetheless, she was somewhat… excited. She personally hoped Ino would be on the same team as her. Duh. And maybe one of the other girls that always gravitated towards them and had a decent fashion sense. That was all she wanted. Though, she doubted that there'd be an all girl team.

She entered the classroom and took a seat in her usual spot as she continued to chit-chat with her friends.

"Were you there for Arata-sensei's lecture? Two hours of my life I'll never get back!" Akane said. With a low voice, trying to sound masculine, she then mocked her teacher. "Here's a slide of a diamond shaped kunai, here's a slide of a star shaped kunai." Then her mimicking stopped. "Gah, put me to sleep why don't you?!"

"Yeah, did you see his toupée?" a male voice said. "It looked like ramen."

It was as if no one said a word as the girls continued to chat:

"I swear. He showed slides over and over again," Ino said.

"But did you see his toupée? It looked like ramen," that same boy interjected again.

"Do you mind?" Ino spoke again, glaring, seeing as he wouldn't take a hint. "We're talking."

Akane said, "Hey, did you see his toupée? It looked like ramen."

The girls around her laughed loudly at Akane's original joke about their odd ball of a sensei. The preteen smiled. Moments like these were incredibly empowering for her. It meant she reigned supreme amongst her peers. Just because they came from her mouth, the words were golden. It was a definite ego booster, causing it to inflate quite a bit.

But then the laughter from the girls stopped entirely and Akane looked up in confusion. She saw none other than Uchiha Sasuke enter the classroom. _Of course_ , she should've known.

Green eyes narrowed at him in mild irritation. This happened almost every single day. The boy constantly challenged her popularity and superiority over the student body without even trying. It was as if his family name and grades gave him _instant_ popularity. It made sense considering the values of Konoha, but it still made her _seethe_. Unlike _him_ , she actually worked hard to be as popular as she is.

Uchiha sat down in his usual seat and all the attention was set on him. The other girls swooned and Akane just rolled her eyes in response.

"I want to sit by Sasuke-kun."

" _No_ , I want to sit by Sasuke-kun."

"No, _I_ want to sit by Sasuke-kun."

The daily fight began again and Akane simply turned up her nose. And she was very aware that she was the odd one out. The cool thing to do was that all the girls in the class should faint at the sight of Uchiha. And yes, she was also very much aware of the fact that dating the most popular guy in school would cement her status as the most popular girl in school. But considering all that's happened, it left a bad taste in her mouth.

"So cool," she heard that same male voice from earlier mutter. "She still doesn't give a damn about Sasuke."

Emerald jewels glanced over and could practically see the twinkle in that Naruto kid's eyes. Well, at least someone was paying attention even if he was a weirdo who constantly caused a scene.

"Alright, class, settle down," she heard her homeroom teacher say.

She and her friends complied as they faced forward.

"Today could be your last day at the academy forever. And with that said, all of you graduates will be sorted into a three person cell with your assigned Jōnin."

Two other people on a team with her? She already had her hopes for who she wanted on her team. Hopefully things went well.

"Uzumaki Naruto," she heard.

Whatever. He didn't matter to her. All she cared about was that he didn't end up on the same team with her. She wanted to be on the same team as Ino and some other girl in their group or a hot guy. That worked too.

"Akane."

"WHAT?!"

"YEA!"

Green eyes narrowed at Iruka-sensei. How the hell did she end up on a team with the kid that she was certain failed the class? She knew she was a good student — her grades and class rank proved that. And contrary to popular belief, she didn't sleep with anyone to get it. So why was she being punished by being teamed up with a guy that was just going to weigh her down?

She was about to demand answers, but Iruka-sensei continued on:

"And Uchiha Sasuke."

"WHAT?!"

This could _not_ be happening. How _could_ this be happening? She was supposed to be on a team with Ino and some other girl cool enough to be a part of her group not a bunch of boys that grinded her gears. And she wasn't going to let that happen.

"Sensei," she exclaimed, "why am I put on a team with a bunch of dumbasses?"

"Dumbasses!?" Naruto exclaimed.

"We have to keep the teams balanced. Akane, you're in the middle of your class, Sasuke is at the top, and Naruto is at the bottom," Iruka-sensei explained. "It'a fair this way."

The class roared with laughter at the blonde boy, she presumed. No one dared to laugh at her.

Iruka-sensei then called for the genin to quiet down and they soon did. But, of course, like any classroom of young boys and girls there were few kids that still chattered amongst one another.

"I don't see why anyone would like such a careless guy," she heard a lazy voice say.

Akane had to agree. She didn't see the appeal in a guy that didn't care about her and her alone. A guy that had zero drive and zero regards for her. The only appealing trait was that he was well liked, much to her chagrin, and he wasn't an eyesore, much to her chagrin again. Also, having a good clan name doesn't hurt either.

"Jeez, you don't understand anything about women," Ino berated him.

"It's the looks and the family name. Duh," Akane sighed. "Learn something why don't you."

"God, you and your friends are troublesome," he said.

She turned around and gave him a quick once over. She could take him no problem. The redhead was sure of it.

"You wanna go, Nara?" she said with a bit of a lip curl to show her distaste for the boy.

He looked as if he was afraid, at least startled that is. She hoped she was the source. But knowing him he was probably fearing he'd have to get his lazy butt up and do something. So he sighed, "No."

She was satisfied for now and turned back around to face the class.

…

It was lunch time. Akane was with her friends, sitting along some tables outside of one of the many restaurants in Konoha. She wasn't really eating and neither were the other girls. The only thing she somewhat ate was a red apple. Her stomach was rumbling, but she was sticking to the diet she made up. She'd have the model body no matter what.

But aside from her _diet_ , the real thing that was the thorn in her side was the team set up. She still couldn't believe things didn't go her way.

"God, I can't _believe_ Iruka-sensei," she said. "I wanted to be on a team with you bitches."

"Yeah, but you're in a team with _Sasuke-kun_ ," Ino said, obviously envious.

"But she's also on a team with _Naruto_ ," Rika said looking as if she might gag.

The girls conceded with nods and noises of discontent. But it was short lived because none other than the boy they all agreed was annoying showed up. All of them groaned except Akane who just sighed softly in irritation.

"Hi, Akane… Ino," he said, flopping down right beside her with a bright smile. He caused the whole table to shake and disdainful looks to be directed towards him. "So since we're teammates I was wondering if you wanted to eat together."

"With you?" she asked with a quirked brow.

"Well, uh, yeah," he said.

"Well, uh, no," she said with an eye roll for the ages.

She and the rest of her girls collectively stood and then moved to a different table. And their lunch continued on, uninterrupted by anyone else this time. However, the girls' attentions turned back to her least favorite person. Uchiha.

"Come on, let's go find where he is," one of them said.

"Fine, go without me," Akane said.

The girls left with Akane's permission and headed out. And so the redhead was left to pick and preen at her appearance with her little hand mirror. In the back of her mind the entire time she was eating that apple she was paranoid about her lipstick coming off or smearing. She wouldn't accept anything less than perfection when it came to herself.

"Alone at last," she suddenly heard.

She didn't need to turn around to know who it was.

"Oh yea, my stalker," she said sarcastically under her breath.

He started laughing like they were old friends. She frowned at him and tried to ignore him. The boy was relentless. Why wouldn't he take the hint that she didn't want to be his friend? He was weird, off putting, and loud. Not to mention, everyone hated him and she wouldn't dare associate with someone beneath _her_ station.

"Ha Akane, you're so funny," he said.

"You're a little peculiar," she said candidly, tone full of disdain like he was something on the bottom of her shoe. "I'm going to class. Don't follow me."

As she sat down in class. Hours passed as she chatted with her _friends_ , but they started filing out one by one until eventually only she, Naruto, and Sasuke were left. She didn't know whether to take a walk around the school or shop with what's left of her allowance. She just wanted to kill time. Her new sensei was taking his sweet ass time getting over here to teach them something. It was painfully boring. Ino and the others left, so she didn't have anyone to talk to except her new annoying teammates. Joy.

Suddenly, she heard a mischievous giggle. Curious, she looked up from filing her nails and saw the blonde boy with an eraser in hand. Jeez.

"Seriously," she said incredulously. "You're going to make him hate you already?"

"Oh please, he'll love me for it!" Naruto exclaimed.

She watched as he stood on the chair by the door to place an eraser on top of the door frame. The intent was to rig it so that the white substance would smack the new sensei on the head. Lovely. First impressions meant everything and the nuisance was about to botch it. Why was she not surprised? Well, at least she wasn't going to be involved with it.

Sasuke said, "He's not going to fall for it he's a Joni—"

Smack.

Six eyes looked up to see none other than their new sensei, for who knows how long, get smacked on the head by Naruto's 'booby trap'. She was left in mild shock that their teacher fell for something so stupid. Shouldn't he be… _better_ than that?

He sighed. "My first impression is… you're all idiots," he said.

"Told you," Akane snipped to the blonde boy quietly.

They were outside of the classroom this time. Along the stones overlooking the vast wood, they all waited for their new instructor to get on with it. They'd already been waiting for hours, so they were all antsy to get a move on. Especially Akane.

"What are your names, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams?" the sensei asked.

"Shouldn't you answer first," Akane said, giving him a skeptical look, "you know… to show good will?"

He shrugged and conceded. "My name is Hatake Kakashi and the rest is none of your business. Okay, _Red_?" he said cooly.

"It's _Akane_ actually. And unlike you, I'm not ashamed of anything I do. I like fashion and training — relieves the stress and makes my body look nice. Oh and I don't like any of you by the way. My hobby is shopping and putting on makeup. And my dream is to be the most powerful person," she said simply. "You know… social superiority."

"Next," he said.

She scoffed. She was only just _a little_ bit put off that he wasn't interested in anything she said. Nothing about that covered face betrayed how he felt. It's not that she thought she was the most interesting thing in the world. But it is that she thought she was the most interesting thing in the world.

She only heard the other two because she couldn't turn off her ears:

"Uzumaki Naruto. I like Miso Ramen. My hobby is tasting different ramen. I don't like how long it takes to heat the water for my cup ramen. My dream is to become the Hokage!"

"Next."

"The name's Uchiha Sasuke. I hate a lot of things and I don't like much. I don't have a dream but an ambition: to kill a certain someone and to restore my clan."

She just hoped this "certain someone" wasn't her, but otherwise she didn't care. Whatever was happening in his life wasn't of her concern. She didn't know him anymore and didn't care to know him now.

And she was relieved that Naruto's hobby wasn't being her personal stalker. He did have traits similar to one and she wasn't a stranger to the occasional creep.

"Now with that out of the way," he sighed disinterestedly. "Let's move on to the little test you're all going to go through."

"Are you kidding me?" Akane scoffed.

"Yeah, seriously!" Naruto shouted. "What was the point of graduation if we're being tested AGAIN?!"

She really didn't want to be tested again. For one she just got her hair done at a scalp massaging salon. She didn't want her hair splitting prematurely because of unnecessary stress. Couldn't she and these 'teammates' get on with it? She had better things to do with better people.

"Graduation was just to see if you're worth testing being a Genin," Kakashi-sensei said. "Call it a formality if you will. Whatever you call it you're going to be examined again."

"Well, what is it on then?" she demanded.

"It's a survival mission," he supplied.

"You mean like you're going to stick us in the woods and leave us in there for a couple days by ourselves…? Gross," she said.

"You'll see," he said.

"Do the woods care that I just washed and cut my hair?" she said, vague irritation seeping into her tone.

"The woods do not care," Kakashi-sensei replied stoically.

"This does _not_ sound like the test for me," she said seriously.

God, being a ninja sucked. You get dirty, sweaty, and do gross things. But she wanted power, respect from everyone. And obtaining skills and power lead to that. Duh. Just like the position of Hokage. He's powerful and people don't _dare_ disrespect him… without at least a hell of an ass whopping.

"If it makes you feel better your hair looks fantastic," she heard the blonde boy say.

She barely bothered with a glance and saw that he had the eyes of an admirer. Not love or attraction… just admiration. Those eyes of his were sparkling and shining like the ocean. Nothing new. She'd seen plenty of _those_ eyes.

"I know that," she said, turning up her nose.

"Oh and by the way," Kakashi-sensei said, bringing her attention back to him. "Don't eat a thing. You'll throw up."

Fine by her, she was on a diet. No breakfast, a bite of fruit for lunch, and, if she was lucky, at dinner she got an appetizer plate full of vegetables. She predicted that she'll lose ten pounds by the end of the week. Model thin was her goal.

"Are we done here because I have a date with my friends at the tea shop I really need to get to," she said.

"That's all," Kakashi-sensei said with a wave of his hand.

" _Finally_ ," she said dramatically.


	2. Make it or Break it

When she got home her mom wasn't there. Yet again, the woman was out for the night. She never had any friends over at the house. So who the hell would she be hanging out with? Akane didn't know and she tried to make herself not care. But the emptiness of the house wasn't exactly easy. She thought she'd be used to it by now, but she wasn't.

Her stomach growled, but she ignored it. Even if she saw the bowl of udon noodles and pickled vegetables, she refused it. Crash dieting wasn't called _crash dieting_ because you ate healthy meals at least two times a day.

She flipped on the lights to the living room. It revealed wooden floors, a fireplace with a mantle above it with pictures, a couch and armchairs faced the fire, a coffee table was in the middle, and the walls were a muted green. The _house_ was warm and intimate.

Whether it be longing or human curiosity, she looked along the mantle for the first time in forever. There was one of Akane that her mom put up; it was her graduation photo. Then there was a couple of her mom. Her mother was a blonde, had green eyes, and a youthful face. Ano she was surrounded by friends Akane had never met.

For a moment, Akane wondered if she got her red hair from her dad. She'd never know; she'd never met her male progenitor. She'd asked her mom about it, but the woman would always stiffen and avoid Akane's questions like the plague. The girl wondered idly if her dad left her mom or cheated or something equally as horrible to make such a cheery, unaffected woman flinch. Well, given her mom's reactions, Akane would never get the truth. Oh well. No point in dwelling on something she couldn't change or figure out. She had better things to focus on.

_Like herself_.

And she just wanted to go to bed.

Once in bed, she couldn't go to sleep. Her mind and body still seemed to be racing. Wonderful. So she turned on her side, back, and stomach, but she still couldn't get any relief. Her body didn't want to rest.

"Hey, Ino, get me a— oh, yeah, you're not here right now," she said dejectedly.

A lot of times Ino was here along with Rika and some other girls. It kept Akane's mind off of the fact that she was alone. But right now, no one was here to fill a void that was left by no one being here beyond what was necessary.

She didn't cry — too often this set up happened. Plus, crying was a form of weakness she wouldn't subject herself to. Weak babies cried. So, to make herself feel better she was going to distract her mind. She went downstairs in her basement. Down there, there was a punching bag which she of course punched. Multiple times.

The next day was the same ol' routine the only difference was her mom looked extra smiley today. What was up with that? Yes, mom usually smiled. It was a thing for her. But she never looked so forced today. Normally, she wouldn't care. If there was one thing Akane learned growing up is to fend for herself and no one else. But there was something… off about her.

"What? Did you sleep with a coat hanger in your mouth?" Akane asked casually as she pulled some juice from the fridge.

"No, dear," she said in that false, sickly sweet manner as she inched towards the door. "It's a big day today at the office is all."

"Boring," Akane replied drily.

With that she left the house with a hair toss. Sometimes in moments like these she idly wondered what would happen if she had a dad in her life. Would things be easier? Harder? Would he pay attention to her and her mom? Because mom was barely around, just kept that grinning face on and did the basic domestic duties. And truth be told, Akane couldn't recall a time when she and her mom actually had a meaningful conversation. It was usually just to feed Akane and keep the house functioning. That was it.

She shook her redhead and did her best to ignore it all. But the act just made her dizzy. Whatever, she'd power through it. She wouldn't tolerate it. And for that matter, why did she even care about her mom's weird behavior and what it would be like if she had a dad? It didn't matter. It was something she couldn't change and she wouldn't dare dwell on it. It would just make her miserable. And she hated being miserable.

She was at the field Kakashi-sensei specified and found that only Sasuke was there. Joy. Being alone with him wasn't exactly a nummy treat for her.

"Where's the sensei?" she asked crankily.

"Not here yet," Sasuke supplied.

"Great," she said.

She plopped down, out of breath. Her legs were wobbly and she hated that her body dared to show weakness. She could only accept perfection from herself. And when something didn't work the way she expected she wouldn't dare accept it. She'd eliminate it. But it seemed she was so hungry that her body felt it necessary to punish her. Fine, she'll eat a whole sandwich when she got home if it'll stop the wobbly legs and the headaches she'll do it.

"Hello Akane~!" Naruto exclaimed, walking towards her.

Green eyes barely looked up at him as she rubbed her temples. She was not in the mood for noise of any kind and the blonde was a loud, loud nuisance.

"Quiet now," she said.

"Is your head hurting?"

"Why. Won't. You. Leave me alone?" she groaned, her little fingers rubbing harder at her temples.

He sat down with a huff and she was satisfied for the moment. But hours and hours dragged on and still no sight of him. Now, she was officially hangry. She was ravenous and if someone so much as looked at her wrong she would rip them a new one.

"Hello all, I got lost on the path of life," she suddenly heard.

Green eyes looked up and bore daggers into him. She was not having any of it. And she hoped her expression conveyed just that.

"You're late!" Naruto wailed.

He hopped down onto the forest floor. The first thing she noticed was that he had two bells attached to his hip. Odd, bells weren't in and that wasn't how you wore them anyway. This guy was so weird.

"Get on with it," she said, bringing herself up on shaking legs.

"Not one to beat around the bush, are you?" Kakashi-sensei said. She didn't react. She didn't had the energy for it. So he continued on. "Alright, kiddos, you're going to try and get one of these bells. If you get one you pass the test and get a bento box for lunch. Got it? And since I'm a nice guy, I'll give you a ten second head start."

Naruto began, "Wait, why are there—"

"10, 9, 8—"

"Oh shit!"

And the three of them were off. Akane wanted to tell herself she didn't want that damn lunch box. But she wasn't even going to try to lie to herself. She'd get a bento if it'd kill her. She was starving. All her brain could think was food, food, food food food food foodfoodfoodfoodfood.

"Hey, Akane, mind if I hide here too?" a male voice whispered and giggled softly.

She looked over at the big toothy grin showcased to her. It was such a contrast to the irritated look on her face. Anything and everything was giving her a headache. It was like a nail was being driven into the side of her skull.

"Hell no," she said. "You're so loud that you'll get us both caught." And for further measure, she added: "You're stupidity will rub off on me."

She wanted him gone from the pile of underbrush she was hidden in. He'd give her away immediately. And the best way to get someone to leave is to be as vicious as a snake.

"Hey!" he shouted indignantly, face screwing up in mild anger.

Suddenly, it felt as if everything in her froze. She was very, very aware of someone behind her. She stiffened like her spine was replaced with a rod. Oh. No. The idiot of all idiots ruined it.

"Hello Akane. Hello Naruto," none other than Kakashi-sensei said. "Are you prepared to die?"

"Take him!" she shouted, shoving Naruto towards Kakashi-sensei.

Then she booked it. She didn't dare look back at them as she wanted to put as much distance between her and her sensei. Normally, normally she'd fight him head on. She was confident in her abilities, but today her body was shaky and not cooperating the way it was supposed to. She couldn't get a bell in her current state with brutality alone.

To the trees it was. The girl hopped up in there, and hid amongst the leaves and greenery. She needed a strategy and Akane knew she could come up with one. It made it easier knowing that blondie over there was a decent diversion.

"You know, I'm a real kind of guy…. I'll teach you the first shinobi battle technique: taijutsu," Kakashi-sensei said.

And with that said he pulled out… from what she could see… a book. And by the title it was called "Make-out Paradise." Green eyes widened and her pale face cringed in disgust. Seriously? They had a pervert who read porn unabashedly out in the open be their sensei? She was kind of impressed by his lack of shame, but that was it. He was just… eww.

"Um, why are you reading porn right now?" Naruto asked, sounding confused.

He shouldn't judge considering he transforms into a naked woman to distract his opponents. Naruto was a pervert too.

"Well, I was wondering how the plot would develop," he stated uninterestedly. "Plus, I won't have to give it my all for a couple of squirts just out of the academy."

Apparently being called a squirt was Naruto's trigger because he charged and screamed: "I'm gonna beat the shit out of you!"

It was embarrassing, outright embarrassing, to watch Naruto fight Kakashi-sensei. The boy was so easily outclassed. He threw one punch and their teacher was right behind him. And well, being attacked from behind was one of the worst things to happen. It was difficult to counter and course correct. And given the seal used by Kakashi-sensei she'd reckon Naruto was about to get his ass toasted.

"Konoha Secret Technique Ultimate Taijutsu: a Thousand Years of Death!"

And, um, Naruto was _fingered_ in the _ass_ by their sensei so hard that he went flying into the air. His blonde head smacked into the tree before sinking into the river across from them.

"Gross," she breathed.

Then her green eyes caught one of the bells twinkle along the grass. How could he be so careless? Surely, surely this was a trap. No one would let a Jonin be that stupid. She'd have to play her cards right here and she'd pass. And more importantly she could eat. For the food she'd do it. Her entire body demanded it. Food, food, food, food food food food foodfoodfoodfoodfood.

"Hgh!"

Yet again she was snapped back from the edge by someone else making a loud noise. This time it wasn't Naruto but Sasuke. Hmm? What was Mr. Number One In The School going to do? Was he actually going to live up to—

Suddenly, the raven haired boy leapt from his trees along with several shuriken. Which was… very stupid by the way considering Kakashi-sensei simply countered the shuriken with his kunai before he grabbed the Uchiha by the ankle and flung him like a rag doll. The boy happened to land on his feet like a cat with all the same grace as one.

"Well, aren't you a spry fellow for a Genin?"

"I'm different from those idiots, so don't compare me to them," Sasuke said.

"Well then, you'll be able to handle this, Sasuke-kun. Second ninja battle technique: genjutsu."

Akane rolled her eyes, ignoring the fight. An idea was already cooking in her mind. It's best she get on with it.

From the bag on her lower back she pulled out a net and a few weapons. It took longer than it would normally take.

She heard Kakashi-sensei whistling softly through the forest. That meant he was done with Sasuke and he was probably on the hunt for Akane. Or he was simply reading after being done with her 'teammate'. Whatever. Either way, her legs were shaking, feeling ready to finally collapsing and buckle. It's do or die. Act now!

With that she used the thick branch to run off of and make her assault. She leapt and landed on the grassy earth below her. She ran, trying to keep quiet but quick, as she prepared to go in for the kill.

"Ngh!" she exclaimed loudly.

She aimed for his head preparing to lob it off with her fist, but it seemed the man was just humoring her. Entertaining an idea that she might win easily. Stupid body, why did she go on this stupid crash diet now? She would've wiped the floor with him if she was in full control and full strength. She knew it.

He grasped her wrist. Her eyes widened. Stupid, stupid body it was shaking like a leaf because her stomach was screaming at her to feed it. Goddammit, it was the worst punishment right now for her.

"Hmm, figures," Kakashi-sensei said.

"What figures, you weirdo?" she questioned.

"You'd be the worst in terms of taijutsu," he said. "I talked to Iruka… the man said you were at the bottom of your class in terms of physical performance. The only saving grace was that you scored the highest on the written."

And before she could snark he threw her back. She gasped as she fell against the ground. Her body was shaking horribly. Her vision was growing wavy and bleary. Her head was swimming. She figured she'd pass out. She'd have to do this stupid test all over again, be put through this horse shit all over again, and….

Suddenly, her nose got a whiff of the grilled fish; pickled vegetables; and the white, sticky rice. And just like that, she felt a wash of adrenaline course through her like a shot to the arm. And up she was, back slightly bowed. Her legs were full of burrowed energy, no longer shaking like a leaf. She had to act fast in order to feed her ailing body.

"HA!"

Her fist smashed into the tree beside his head. She was aiming for the face, but Kakashi-sensei's reflexes were top notch. But given the look on his face, she clearly surprised him. Well, she couldn't blame him. The tree broke in half.

"Wh-what ridiculous strength," he said incredulously.

Duh. Did he think that her training was purely for aesthetics? Well, to be honest, at first it was just for looks. But keeping her incredible strength, which for some reason was always a thing with her, was definitely a plus as a result of a punching bag.

If she ended it like this, she'd get her food fas—

"Third ninja battle skill: ninjutsu. Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Jutsu!"

"Ah!" she screamed.

He grasped her ankle and yanked underneath the dirt below her. Green eyes opened cautiously and saw that below her neck was buried vertically. She let out a breathy, incredulous: ew. And then, well, she was pissed. And when anger and adrenaline were combined… it wasn't pretty.

"Haaa!" she exclaimed, pulling hard at the ground. And after a few of those she was free and figured she was a real sight to behold in terms of fear factor.

"How did you score so poorly on the physical?" Kakashi-sensei asked.

She explained, "It broke my nails." But now, hunger was her motivation and it was a vicious one.

Ignoring the widened visible eye, she went over to a boulder that was roughly twice the size of her. And like anyone who knows about lifting, she used to her knees to start pulling at the sucker. With copious grunts and tugs, she finally pulled it free from the ground. She knew what she was going to do with it. Akane began spinning around and around to build up momentum before she released the large stone.

It went flying towards him. The man dodged by jumping to the side. But that damn bell wasn't stuck to his side, so the boulder barely brushed it. But sometimes barely is enough. And off the bell went onto the green grass of the field.

Green eyes widened exponentially in excitement and victory. A shit eating grin spread across her face. And she beelined it down there. Her feet thundered across the short distance to get that damn bell. And, of course, Kakashi-sensei realized what was up and came after her.

"Oh shit!"

It was one of those moments that could only be appreciated in slow motion. As Akane ran towards the fallen bell Kakashi was quickly gaining ground on her. She didn't know if she'd make it or not, but she was trying her damndest. She wanted that fooood! But low and behold the trap she nearly forgot about was sprung. Kunai and shuriken flew towards him like it was going out of season. And right as his hand brushed the bottom of her top he had to duck for cover, slamming hard into the ground.

"YES!" she shouted when her hands held the tiny bell in her hands. "I win, you son of a bitch! Now feed me!"

…

The girl wasn't paying any attention to what Kakashi-sensei was saying even though she was fairly certain the man was talking specifically to _her_. Her attention was laser focused on the bento sitting above them. Quite frankly she didn't care or hear much of anything coming out of this man's mouth. She passed and she was starving.

"Teamwork… rarity… Akane passed… boys fail… true heroes," was about all she got.

Suddenly, she heard, "AKANE!"

Like that her trance was broken and she looked at Kakashi-sensei. A frown of irritation crossed her face. She didn't enjoy being yelled at.

"What? I'm not deaf," she said. "Why is everyone always shouting at me?"

"Did you hear a word I just said?" Kakashi-sensei asked.

"Teamwork this, teamwork that. Blah, blah, blibbity-blah," she said with an eyeroll.

"I'm saying this because you're the worst at teamwork," he said. "If you hadn't gotten a bell I would fail you right now."

"Well, I _did_ pass. Can I just eat my bento now? I'm _starving_."

He slowly blinked at her before saying, "Fine. Eat. By the way, you boys can't work with Akane," Kakashi-sensei said. "She already has her bell and I would consider it cheating if you two get any tips from her." Then he left in a brush of leaves.

She smiled happily, swinging her bell all around on the tip of her finger in elation. Well, she wouldn't have to do that stupid test again. Yes! She was finally a Genin — a full fledged ninja. Now, she could get onto the road of power, respect, and further popularity.

Most importantly she could solve the current epidemic she was facing. Her _hungry_ stomach. She thought she'd die of starvation and now she could stuff her face all she wanted. Literally. The chopsticks weren't fast enough. She used her hands to shove fist fills of food down her throat.

Suddenly, she felt eyes on her.

Green orbs looked over at the boys. "What the hell are you guys looking at?" she said, not wiping the shit eating grin off her face. "It's my cheat day. I should be rewarded; I beat you losers after all."

"Losers?!" Naruto exclaimed.

The expression on his face was so amusing. He looked as if he'd blow a gasket and Sasuke wasn't faring any better either. To her, they sounded like a bunch of sore losers who couldn't take the heat.

"Are you hard of hearing? I said _losers_ ," she said. "Because _you_ lost and _I_ won."

"You're the one who scored the lowest in jutsu," Sasuke said. "You're the weakest, Akane, so you're the loser."

"Says the boy who didn't get a bell," she said snidely. "It's about who's better prepared than who's stronger."

He went to strangle her, but Naruto intervened. Let him. She wasn't scared of some sad, little, pretty boy that belonged in a brooding corner specifically made for brooders.

"Sasuke, don't you dare kill her!" Naruto exclaimed. "We have to work together. Remember? Kakashi-sensei talked about team work. Team work! Even if he said that Akane isn't supposed to help we can't do it without her. We're a three man cell!"

Sasuke swatted Naruto's hand away with a soft 'hn' and seemed to concede. She didn't care either way.

"You two, Akane!" Naruto shouted.

Green eyes rolled. "Fine, I guess I'll help out with you two getting a bell. After all, I did such a good job getting mine."

"Dumb luck is what it is, bimbo," she swore she heard.

"What was that?" she said, turning toward him. "You wanna run that by me again?"

Did he really just say that? She may be tired and have sad, broken nails, but that didn't mean she wouldn't bust his ass. She wasn't above petty fighting.

"Guys!" Naruto exclaimed. "Stop fighting! Teamwork! Teamwork!"

"There's no need to shout, you weirdo," she said incredulously. Then she sighed and began again. "Alright, here's the plan: Naruto you come at him from behind and I'll—"

Suddenly, the sky went from beautiful blue to inky black in 1.2 seconds. Then the wind picked up and storm clouds exploded with lightning, surprising and scaring all of them.

"WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST SAY?!" Kakashi-sensei roared, appearing in front of all of them. He looked as if he might explode with anger. "ALL OF YOU… pass."

It felt like her heart dropped right out of her bottom and she died on the spot. But no, she was still alive and trying to process the fact that the weather now cleared up and Kakashi went from 100 to 0 so fast that he should be checked for manic-depressive disorder.

"What?" Naruto breathed.

"You all pass," he said simply.

A beat.

"YEA!" Naruto shouted into the air and started jumping up and down, and all around.

Akane just flopped back down, looking up at the sky. She sighed loudly in a barely there puff of air. She already knew she passed, but the young girl couldn't help the relief that flowed through her.

"I already knew that," she said softly with a small smile.


	3. Karma or Punishment?

She was practically skipping down the street to go home for the day. She got a bell and passed the test. Sure, she broke a nail and would have to use a press on, but she was the best on her team — even better than that so called number-one-of-the-year lameass Uchiha. She couldn't wait to brag for weeks on end, rubbing it in everyone's faces.

"Mom, guess what I— Mom, where did you go?" Akane asked as soon as she got home.

She supposed that her mom was out with her friends yet again for the night. A bowl of food was on the kitchen table per usual. This time, however, Akane actually ate the shrimp and vegetable tempura. Never again would she make up her own diet like that again. No more starvation. She wouldn't dare let herself gain an ounce, but she wouldn't skip meals like that again. No more weakness.

After she was finished eating she noticed something odd on the fridge while passing by. She looked over and saw a note on it attached by a magnet. Curiously, she ripped it off, wanting to know what was it was. It shouldn't be about how her mom was out. That was obvious. No, what she read on that fateful piece of paper was not anything she'd remotely expect:

_Akane,_

_It's not a surprise mommy is out for the night. After all, I've been doing it since you could legally be home alone. No, no, it's about the fact that you won't be seeing me ever again._

_Yes, that's right; I'm leaving you. You're a full-fledged ninja as of today after all. That means you have your own income and now considered an adult. Lucky for you, the house is paid for already. The only thing you have to worry about it is, well, everything else like water and electricity for example, and that makeup of yours isn't exactly cheap either._

_Well, I'm getting sidetracked. The point is: my part is done. You're on your own now. It seems fitting seeing that, well, you're not really my kid. It took me twelve years to tell you and it was about time. And thankfully, I didn't get to see that look on your face._

_Well, goodbye Akane._

_Fuyuko_

Akane fell to her knees.

X

Was it a cat or a dog they were supposed to catch? It didn't matter to her. She couldn't bring her herself to care. The fallout of confusion and anger inside her from last night's revelation was still consuming her. Her heart wasn't in the 'mission' and her mind was a mess.

Adopted? Stolen? Dropped off on the doorstep? She had no clue. All she knew is that her mom wasn't her mom. Now, there was another parent that she had no clue about. She was just some woman who put up with Akane for twelve years. It was obvious. Her mom, no, Fuyuko… was just someone who did the bare minimum when it came to child rearing and had zero qualms about leaving Akane to never coming back.

"… ne… Aka… AKANE!"

Her head snapped up and immediately glared, not caring who it was. It turned out it was Naruto, by the by, wrestling with a tabby cat. Of course it was. She glared heavily at him, a nasty look growing on her otherwise pretty, well-preened face. It was not a good time to mess with her.

"Excuse me? Who gave you permission to exist? Do I hone in on your private moments? No. Do you know why? Because you're annoying," she said, words dripping with quieted venom in every syllable.

From the corner of her eye she noticed that even Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei were shocked by her words. Yes, it was vicious. She was very aware of this. But did she care? Not at the moment. Quite honestly, it felt kind of good to get out some of that horrible rock of negative emotions sitting in her gut.

"You know what, Akane?" Naruto said, dropping the cat which, in turn, ticked both Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei off. "You're… you're a bitch!"

The others took off after the cat. But neither Akane or Naruto cared. They were rather focused on one another at the moment.

"Oh, how original. I'm so hurt," she said with biting sarcasm and a ruthless smirk on her face. "Try it next time without the stutter." then she headed on with her head held high and an air of indignation.

It turned out Sasuke caught the tabby this time and the rest of the team was to head off back to the Hokage's office. Good. She wanted this horrible, horrible day to end already. The redhead planned to spend quality time with her punching bag until her knuckles became raw.

"Why do we get missions that anyone can do! We're ninja! Ninja!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Shush!" Kakashi-sensei exclaimed, knocking the blonde idiot in the head.

Better pay would be nice. Now that she was thinking about it she didn't have her "mom" around to pay the bills. The house may be payed off, but that didn't mean there wasn't water and electric bills to pay, and food to buy. She'd need some cold, hard cash. And lots of it. None of that crap was cheap. So she figured. And Akane was never wrong.

"Yeah, we didn't become ninja to babysit a couple of annoying brats, and fetch a bunch of fat asses' stupid pets," she clipped.

"Fat asses!?" the woman whose cat they brought back shouted incredulously. "I am Madam Shimiji, the Daimyō's wife, and I will not p—"

"Leave. Your cat's been found. You have no reason to be here. Go get a face lift or something," Akane said not even looking at Shimiji with a simple wave of the hand in the older woman's direction.

The lady left angrily in a big huff and scoffing obnoxiously. Akane just ignored the incredulous looks from her fellow ninja. She was not in the mood. Daimyō's wife or not she was still vaguely irritated and just about anything bristled the girl at the moment. It may be a little short sighted, but she was an alpha by nature and her first line of defense was a verbal smackdown.

"I want a mission that'll pay me a hefty sum especially since I have to split it between these three. Give me an S-rank mission," she said easily with her arms crossed over her chest. "I want at least a million ryo for it."

Their eyes widened further at her demands for highly paid work that they wouldn't _dare_ send a Genin on. She didn't care. She wanted money and she wanted it now. She had a high standard of living and wanted to uphold it. She could handle whatever they threw at her. She wasn't afraid.

"So cool… but so mean," she heard Naruto's voice whisper to her right.

"Ehem, it seems I'll have to explain it to you since you're being such a brat," the old man said, putting down his long pipe. Green eyes narrowed at him for that comment. "Genin don't go on S-rank…"

Immediately, she began to tune him out, not caring in the slightest. She wanted money and she wanted it now. Her "mom" — ehem Fuyuko — was no longer around to pay for everything anymore. It seemed she'd have to step up to the plate. And she will. She won't settle for less.

"Akane," Kakashi-sensei whispered to her. "I'm gonna get an earful later because of you and Naruto."

"Hey, what did I do?" Naruto demanded.

"I fail to see how that's my problem," she whispered back with a smirk.

"Well, aren't you being a little bi—"

"KAKASHI! AKANE! NARUTO!" the Hokage shouted.

Vaguely irritated, the girl looked up and rolled her green eyes. She wasn't in the mood for this. She wanted a high paying mission and to hit something hard. Preferably her mo— Fuyuko. But she'd settle for the punching bag in the basement.

Whatever this old man Hokage had to say beyond giving her what she wanted was irrelevant to her.

"I get what you meant about the whole deaf thing, Akane," Naruto said and she saw him digging in his ear with his pinkie. "That hurt my ears, old man!"

"Well, since you two are so eager to go on a higher level mission I'll give you a taste of what it's like. Here's a C-rank mission. Starting today, you're going to be protecting a young model. Kazumi-chan, come on please."

"I can come in now?" a feminine voice asked.

"Yes."

In came a young woman who looked to be in her late teens or early twenties — basically the perfect age range for a model. She was a blue eyed, tall, tan, thin, blonde woman who definitely fit the profile of "typical model." Akane wondered if she fit the "dumb" part of the profile too to complete the package.

"Fashion tip: mouth looks better closed," Akane said snidely to Naruto.

"Sh-shut up!" he said.

Even Kakashi-sensei looked vaguely uncomfortable by Kazumi's obvious beauty. Weird, why did a woman's beauty make someone uncomfortable? Just acknowledge when someone is beautiful and move along. No need to clear the throat and shift in place. What? Does attractiveness constipate him?

"Aw, poor thing, do you wear a mask because you're so hideous?" she asked Kakashi-sensei, and without a door between them they could all here the valley girl accent very clearly.

Akane laughed loudly at that as Kakashi-sensei blinked slowly at Kazumi's comment. Kazumi may be stupid, but she was pretty funny in her stupidity.

"Oh, we're going to get along just fine," Akane said with a bitter smile.

X

All of them were walking outside of the village. It was the first time Akane had ever been anywhere but Konoha in her life. As far as she knew that is. She frowned. The fact that she could've lived anywhere besides Konoha for a short time kind of freaked her out. There was so little, so very little she knew about how she came into this world. She didn't know who her parents were. She didn't even know if she was born in the village.

"Aw, why are you frowning?" Kazumi asked. "You'll wrinkle."

She shook her head and resisted running a hand down her face. She had makeup on her face after all. Akane was stressed and, yes, what happened definitely wasn't something easy to shake. After all, the more she thought about it the more questions she had. But it was starting to affect her appearance and her ability to interact with the world around her. She didn't like it. It was time to shake it.

"No reason," she said and decided to change the subject. "Why do you need protection?"

"Oh, that's easy. I have stalkers," she said simply.

"Ew."

"Really?" Naruto questioned.

Akane was glad she didn't go the modeling route. Sure, having everyone admiring her and getting paid for basically being beautiful in different poses seemed pretty good… but stalkers? Oh hell no. She was already refraining from murdering a little blonde pain-in-the-ass pseudo stalker boy right now. She couldn't imagine a legion of them. Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew. Just gross. No.

"Yeah but don't worry they're like total weirdos. No need to wig out," she said with just a wave of her hand as if it was a non-issue. "I mean I just wish I knew why—"

Suddenly, Naruto wailed and Akane rolled her eyes dramatically. What now? She looked over and then gasped. Apparently, he wasn't being a child over getting his feet wet, but the boy had stepped into a trap. Two men with jumbo claws and chains emerged from that puddle, slashing Naruto's shoulder before throwing him to the side.

Kazumi screamed loudly in terror, cowering behind Kakashi-sensei. And then suddenly, two chains wrapped hard around their teacher before yanking hard. Akane looked away, guarding her face with her arm in both disgust and fear of getting blood and guts on her. When she opened her eyes the whites in them widened exponentially at her other teammate, Sasuke, being targeted next, and Kazumi screaming and running away.

Holy shit.

Sasuke tried to do a sweeping kick, making to throw a kunai at their chains, but at such close quarters the two thugs simply grabbed it. The boy was subjected to a kick to the stomach. He went flying, scraping hard against the ground. Green eyes blinked in disbelief as she prepared herself to charge forward. But the two were ahead of the game. One grabbed her hand hard, forcing her to drop her kunai. The other shoved her back and she barely dodged a deadly jumbo claw.

"Ugh!" she exclaimed angrily when she sat up. A deadly green gaze was bestowed upon them. "Do you have ANY idea how long it took for these nails to grow?! I'm gonna wear you like a scarf, you piece of shit!"

"Forget her! Get the blond girl!"

And they were off. And Akane, well, she was never one for not having her way. She'd make them pay for breaking her nail and forcing her to use a press-on later. Her feet thundered hard down the dirt road, preparing to hunt them down. She was vaguely aware of the, "Akane," squeaked out by one of her teammates. Probably the blonde boy, she didn't care.

"Oh my god, fire crotch-chan!" she heard someone exclaim. "Save me! I'll totally be, like, your best friend!"

Kazumi was cowering behind a tree, but Akane didn't care. She knew the two thugs who broke her nail were here. They were after the model after all.

"Shut up," Akane said. "Come out you pieces of shit!"

Suddenly, one of them came down from the tree, kicking Akane in the stomach. It knocked her back into a tree. She grit her teeth in irritation and ducked down from the upcoming punch aimed at her head. When she was back up that's when she got her shot in. She punched him across the face and he went hurdling back into the forest. Then she was on him like a fly in ointment. She grabbed his wrist and pressed her other hand to his chest to push him back. When his back hit the tree trunk she pulled his arm over and cracked it against her shoulder. Breaking it.

"Argh!" he exclaimed.

Then from the corner of her eye she noticed that his buddy with the jumbo claw was coming towards her. She smirked. As he came closer she hurled his buddy towards jumbo claw man. The two dunderheads smacked into one another knocking them both to the floor like a couple of bowling pins.

They were both in a heap, twitching against one another. Hmm. A stray hair was in her eyes, so she blew the strand out of her face. She said she'd wear him like a scarf and she wasn't lying. Then in just a second, her teammates, including Kakashi-sensei surprisingly, came over with their kunai and shuriken out, ready to end this. But she just smiled victoriously.

"Hey guys," she said casually. Then she stepped over the two who were in a crumpled mess and walked on. But strangely enough she didn't hear footsteps behind her. They weren't following. She turned towards them and said, "Come on, let's go."

"Hold on, Akane," Kakashi-sensei said, giving her a look she couldn't quite discern. "Not all of us are okay. Naruto." he turned towards the blonde boy. "Stay where you are."

Akane looked at both Naruto and Sasuke. The blonde was bleeding heavily on his shoulder from the previous encounter. Then Uchiha, who was a bit smarter than the other, didn't fair as badly, but he did have some wicked bruises. It just inflated her ego that she was the one to actually come out on top. Again. And the smirk on her face was positively ruthless.

"Pussies," she called them.

The reaction was immediate. Naruto whipped around. His face was an explosion of red and his eyes were narrowed in rage. Sasuke wasn't much better. However, unlike the blonde, he simply glared with an unamused "hn." Neither were happy with Akane's comment, but that was exactly why she said it.

"Akane, I'LL—"

"Naruto!" Kakashi-sensei exclaimed. "If you move around anymore you'll bleed out."

Akane rolled her eyes as the boy had to be patched up by their sensei. What a nuisance. She wanted to get on with it. She wants her pay check to keep up with her particular lifestyle. She loves the lifestyle of makeup, pretty clothes, and constant management to her red hair. If he cost her this cash she'd strangle him.

"Ugh, do we have to go back to the village for him?" Akane asked irritably. "I already have a press on and glue in my bag."

"We need to keep going. My feet are already hurting from all that running," Kazumi whined.

"Well, he—"

"No!" Naruto shouted sloshing blood from his shoulder. "We're going. I'll never freeze up or give up again! This is a blood oath!" And he stabbed himself.

She wasn't impressed. He was being stupid again. Yes, perhaps he was poisoned and what not, but the boy didn't need to stab himself. He was going to bleed out like a dumbass.

"Have fun bleeding out. I hear it's very painful," Akane snipped.

"Wha-what? … AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, terrified.

_Dumbass._


	4. Some Truth Bombs

"Substitution jutsu?" Akane asked her sensei.

"Substitution jutsu."

"Cool."

"Yeah."

Made sense. He probably saw the attack coming and replaced his body with a log or something when those two wannabe goons went after him. They were in a forest and what not.

"Oh thank god, I'm safe," Kazumi said in relief. She then patted Akane on the top of her head. "Thanks, little fire crotch."

Akane's green eyes narrowed at the older woman about to say something about that particular "nickname." But Kakashi-sensei seemed to have different ideas.

"Well, she did manage to break one of their jaws and broke a couple of the other guy's ribs. Way to go, Akane," he said apathetically. "But, unfortunately, you left your teammates vulnerable when you chased after these two dunderheads."

"Oh please, you should be thanking me. I kicked those guys butts and protected Kazumi who, by the way, ran away," Akane said dismissively. "My mission is to protect Kazumi. That's it. I don't have time for babysitting deadweights."

She could feel the hatred coming in waves from her teammates towards her. Oh well. She didn't care about them. They could all die of a heart attack right now and zero fucks would be given. She did not care about them. She barely knew them. Cry her a river and she might drown you in it if you're that annoying.

"That's it!" Naruto pointed his finger at her and she just gave him an unimpressed look which definitely reflected how she felt about him in general. "No more trying to be your friend. From now on, you're my rival! Rival! I'm gonna beat you up one of these days! Girl or not!"

"Pfft," she said with an eyeroll. "I could crush you like a bug. Fat chance you'd be my rival. Come on, guys, let's go. We're behind."

She started walking and Kazumi followed, but the others did not. Again with this? Were they deaf or did someone get hurt again? Seriously.

"Ah-Ah, young lady," Kakashi-sensei said, stepping ahead of her. "You need to stay with your team to learn some camaraderie. I need to talk with Kazumi-chan."

"Am I in trouble?" the blonde woman pouted. Akane knew that trick. She was trying to drum up some sympathy to avoid consequences. It's a nice move if the person is a softy enough to fall for it.

"Depends. Let's talk," Kakashi-sensei said.

Akane was listening as they walked on. Her ears were intently focused on the conversation between Kazumi and Kakashi-sensei. Clearly, those were not ordinary stalkers. In fact, she'd say someone either put a hit out on her or wished to capture her. The question is did Kazumi know about it or not and who would hire ninja to do it. Akane wanted to know.

Suddenly, from the corner of her eyes, she noticed that two pairs of feet were walking ahead of her. It seemed both Naruto and Sasuke wanted to show her up. Fat chance. She stepped out in front of them. They did the same. So she walked out further. So did they. Again and again this dance continued growing in aggression and elbows until a certain someone intervened.

"You three," Kakashi-sensei called. All of them sobered up. "It seems Kazumi-chan has no idea what's going on. But a mission is a mission. We're getting her back to her manager and heading on to Kawasho."

"Uh, where's that?" Naruto asked bashfully.

"Oh that's easy, kitty," Kazumi called him with a smile.

"I'm actually a—"

"It's just to the right of Yukidari," she said with a bright smile.

"Th-that tells me nothing!" Naruto shouted incredulously.

"What are you stupid or something?" Kazumi questioned with the same cheery smile and tone.

Akane laughed at Naruto's expense as he looked so affronted. It seemed the boy just couldn't catch a break, and it just kept getting funnier and funnier. Maybe it was because at the time she felt like a run over road whore, but as of late humor at other's expense made her giggle. It took her mind off the misery of her "'mother'" leaving her.

Apparently, dark humor is her thing. Hmm, she could deal.

"It's in the Land of Water," Sasuke supplied easily, eyes closed in mild irritation he didn't express in his voice. "It's about ten miles away from Kirigakure where the Mizukage lives. Do you not pay attention to the world around you, dobe?"

"Hey now, I—"

"So, who put a hit out on you?" Akane asked Kazumi, cutting through Naruto's words. She didn't believe Kazumi was totally ignorant.

"I don't know. There's a lot of weirdos who like me," she shrugged.

"Is there anyone with a lot of money?" she asked.

"Akane, I already asked—"

"No, I don't think so," Kazumi said. "But there's one rich guy besides the Mizukage in the Land of Waves. There aren't a lot of rich people around, less than 1% of the population actually."

Everyone gave her a look for such an astute assessment. Dumb, blonde, model girl is aware enough to know how part of the world works? What sorcery is this?

"I mean, Daddy didn't have a lot rich friends. Teehee," she giggled stupidly as she scratched the side of her perfectly coiffed hair with a singly pointy, painted nail.

Relief and realization dawned on Team 7 in the form of an audible sigh. So she was as ditzy as everyone was lead to believe. Oh, and a new piece of information: Daddy probably paid for everything in her life.

Akane could picture it now: Kazumi was princess of the household. Kazumi had everything she could possibly imagine, didn't learn a thing because of her good looks (inherited from her trophy wife mother probably), and now she's in a modeling career because she likes the attention and vanity so much. That sounded about right to Akane. The blonde bimbo's life sounded pretty good to her.

"What would a rich guy want with Kazumi?" Naruto questioned.

"Maybe he's a horny pervert that wants to fuck a model," Akane said blatantly. "Maybe he's bitter that he got snubbed by a model and sent a hit out on her. Maybe he wants to be a pretty lady and wants to use Kazumi as a skin su—"

"Akane!" Kazumi gasped, looking affronted by the redhead's words. "You're scaring me!"

"Does it look like I care?" Akane said, raising a red eyebrow at the blonde girl.

"Akane," Kakashi-sensei admonished with indifference.

Green eyes looked over at her sensei unimpressed. She didn't let people boss her around. Nobody had the authority to do so. It was about her. Only her. She could only rely on herself. She only needed to learn the lesson once for it to sink into her bones. If her own "'mother'" wasn't reliable than who was?

X

"You'll have to take a boat the rest of the way," the ferrier gruffed, spitting straw out of the corner of his mouth. "The whole place travels by water."

"Whoohoo!" Naruto cheered. He hopped in the rowboat and shaking the edge of it in excitement. Water splashed and everyone else put their arms up over their faces except the ferrier. "Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. I want to show up Akane!"

"Like you could," Akane said mildly irritated. "If you mess up my makeup I'll drown you."

Splash.

"No, you wou— blerghu!"

He was cut off by a well lotioned hand shoving his head into the river with alarming strength. No one should dismiss her threats especially when it came to her vanity. Looks were one of the most important things to her. And she didn't appreciate people not taking her seriously. That and drowning him helped alleviate the anger and hatred of her not mother.

Then she felt a hand grab her by the nape of the neck away from Naruto. She rolled her eyes and released the blond menus, giving Kakashi-sensei an "oh fine" look as the man sighed.

"You're such a… a," Naruto wheezed.

"I know," she said, unimpressed and disinterested with an expression that matched it perfectly.

The boy coughed sporadically as severyone boarded the boat without care for him even if he rolled around, spitting out water. She certainly didn't care.

"Let's go," she said.

Her arms crossed over her chest, back straight, and legs perfectly aligned to the left side of her body. One of the many things that she admired about herself was her poise. It was always perfect. Just like the rest of her, perfection or damn near perfection.

She was vaguely aware of the looks that she received for that, but she didn't care. They weren't worth anything to her. They couldn't help her in anyway. It seemed only the ferrier could right now, seeing as the boat was finally moving.

"Ooh, maybe you could be a model, Fire Crotch-chan!" Kazumi gasped.

"Fire cro—"

"Who would want to look at pictures of Akane?" Naruto scoffed, not really looking at either of them.

"Many people would, kitty," Kazumi said.

"I'm not a—"

"The only thing you need is a manager," Kazumi said cheerily with a big smile and her pointer finger up. "She'll take really good care of you!"

Akane bristled. No one took care of her. The last person who did might as well not have. Her not mother didn't exactly do her job in the whole mothering department. The woman was distant, didn't pay her any attention, and treated Akane as if she was a burden. Yeah, that was a sore spot.

"No one takes care of me," she said with her chin up high and not looking at Kazumi.

"What do you mean?" Kazumi asked. "Someone has to be tak—"

"No one takes care of me," she repeated giving the other a hard look.

Kazumi swallowed and shrunk back from her. Whatever, the bimbo shouldn't push or tell her how to live her life. No one tells Akane how to live her life.

After some time, Naruto shouted, "I see it! I see it! I see Yukidari!"

He started rocking the boat out of excitement so hard that Akane vaguely considered kicking him in the river. But she refrained due to the fact that her eyes landed on the spectacular sight before her:

The fog cleared up, revealing a floating fortress on the bluest water she'd ever seen. The whole thing was completely made of ice and snow. Giant ice walls surrounded the city as its natural protection. There was only one opening for people to enter without fog and ice in the way. On each side of the opening there were watch towers with men occupying it.

"Yo, ferrier!" Akane called. "Are we going to get shot for coming here?"

"No, they've seen me a million times," he gruffed.

As they further traveled into the city, she was more and more awe struck by the sights before her. In the center was the masterpiece of the whole place. It was an ice castle with the front stacked like a pyramid with round tops and square holes for windows, a watch tower sat on top, columns held up the entrance, and a bridge was across the thin river in front of it. She wouldn't mind living there. It's fit for a princess.

A little too cold for her though. She wrapped her arms around her body but refused to shiver or admit that she was indeed cold. Once they parallel parked along the side of one of the snowy ice streets, she went straight to one of the buildings.

"Wh-where a-are y-y-you g-g-g-going?" Naruto demanded through shivers.

"I'm changing," she said. "Unlike you losers, I came prepared for everything."

"Ak-Aka-Akane!" Naruto growled, trying to sound threatening through those shudders.

"Aw, once again. This time without the stutter," she snipped with a smirk.

Kazumi giggled a little, but she still seemed uncomfortable with Akane. Akane didn't care. She went into the tourist house that held restrooms. She went in one of the stalls and changed:

She wore a pink, interlock knit sweater with a ruffled, infinity scarf neckline that hangs just above her mid-thigh. She paired it with a white, studded cross-cross belt around her hips. Then she put on a pair of red socks underneath her knee-length, brown leather boots wrapped in red ribbon. The last she wore was a red, black, and white plaid trench coat with black buckles for clasps, and decided to leave it open. Her Konoha headband was still tied around her thigh.

"Aw," she said softly as she walked out of the building to her wintered up teammates. "So much better."

"I d-d-d-didn't pack-k-k-k-k w-w-winter c-c-c-clothesssss!" Naruto shouted, affronted as he looked at everyone in their appropriate gear. His toes were beginning to turn blue in his sandals.

"Sucks to be you," Akane snorted drily.

"S-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh—"

"Alright, where's your manager, Kazumi-chan?" Kakashi-sensei asked, cutting right through Naruto's attempted comeback.

They all looked at Kazumi, waiting for an answer from her. It's time for them to get this stupid, short, easy mission over with. She wanted her pay check now. She had makeup, fake nails, and groceries to buy at home. Get on with it.

"She said she'd be at the north tower," Kazumi said with a smile.

And they headed on to the north tower. Apparently, it wasn't hard to miss. It was thin and tall with a pointed top, probably the tallest. Perhaps it was a defense tower, you know, to get the high ground and store the weapons. It didn't matter though. She wasn't here for weapons but to deliver Kazumi and get on back to Konoha for her money.

"Wh-where is she?" Kazumi said in shock, looking back and forth for rather desperately. She looked all around the tower and came up short. "She told me that she would meet me here today. I-I did my photo shoot at Konoha, and then she was going to meet me here!"

"Perhaps, she's running late," Kakashi-sensei said apathetically as Kazumi continued to look around frantically.

"She never runs late. Hell would freeze over before she ran late for something… especially for me!"

Akane wanted to roll her eyes, but she lacked the care for Kazumi to do so. This scenario sounded all too familiar to her much to her dislike.

"Wait, what's this?" Naruto said, picking up something off the ground that seemed to blow in the wind. "Whoa."

"What, kitty boy?" Kazumi said, letting go of her long, blonde hair and grabbing the note.

One beat. Two beats. And…

"KIDNAPPED?! RANSOM?!" Kazumi shouted at the top of her lungs.

Passerbyers looked at her for a moment, commented on her loudness, and then kept walking.

"Let me read that," Kakashi-sensei said, grabbing her note.

Kazumi sunk to the snowy floor, holding onto the sides of her face, and rocking back and forth. She looked as if her whole world was crashing down on her. Akane actually felt a twinge of sympathy for the woman but only a smidgen.

"I'm going to level with you, Kazumi-chan. This is above my team's pay grade," Kakashi-sensei said, looking at her frantic face with the most bored expression imaginable. Such a stark contrast.

"What? What does the note say? Let me read it!" Naruto demanded.

Kakashi-sensei held it above his head easily effortlessly as he looked Kazumi dead in the eyes. The conversation went on regardless of what Naruto did. And, surprisingly, Akane wanted to know. Was the manager kidnapped? Was she held for money? Was it bait for Kazumi or did the manager have other associates with influence? The redhead wanted to know.

The blond menus started jumping for it as Kakashi-sensei paid him no mind. Being tall has its perks.

"B-b-but, I can't get back Megumi-san on my own! Sh-she takes care of me," Kazumi said, standing with an incredibly sad look on her face. The puppy dog eyes worked wonders on softies.

Kakashi-sensei started to look away rather quickly from Kazumi's proximity, knocking Naruto back by accident. The blond grunted and landed back next to Akane and Sasuke. And the boy looked like he was about to take his sensei to task for that.

"Hey, I did—"

But he stopped short at the new development before them. Kazumi took Kakashi-sensei's hands into her slimmer ones, regaining his attention effectively. She gave him the big, blue puppy dog eyes that certainly looked very sad and tempting to gullible idiots who highly valued a pretty face and aimed to please. Akane was very much aware of the "pu-pu-pretty please" approach. She wasn't above that particular manipulative strategy.

"You have to help me, Kakashi-sensei," she said to him, eyes begging and blinking as she held his hands close to her.

Well, shit just got real.

"He'll never say yes to her," Naruto whispered next to Akane's ear.

"Oh please, the guy wants to get laid by a model," she whispered back bluntly.

"No, he's a jonin," Sasuke joined, sounding disinterested as ever despite speaking to them. "Jonin are detached and stick to their duty."

"Ha, duty," Naruto laughed to himself.

"What are you four?" Akane rolled her eyes.

"No, four year olds are taller," Sasuke whispered back with a smirk.

"Ha, that's true even if you count his stupid hair," Akane said with a similar expression and a sharper tone.

The look on the blond boy's face was priceless. It looked like he swallowed a lemon. Why was picking on him so much fun? The boy made it too easy. And, he was about to blow up and shout, but Akane beat him to it.

"How about this? I bet both of you three hundred ryō each that Kakashi-sensei gives in."

"You're on," they both whispered back.

"Please," Kazumi begged, bottom lip quivering like the hands holding his.

"I…," Kakashi-sensei began. The three students looked expectantly. "I'll… help you."

Naruto groaned loudly in irritation, dropping dramatically. Sasuke looked mildly perturbed. And Akane, well, Akane was never one for humility. She smirked largely and informed them that:

"I believe I now have six hundred ryō between the both of you," she said in sing song voice.

They glared heavily at her, but her head was still held high with a particularly large smirk on her face.

"Change of plans," Kakashi-sensei said, clearing his throat as he walked over to them and looked rather uncomfortable. "We're helping Kazumi-chan."

"Big surprise," she said under her breath, still smirking amusedly.

Kazumi was smiling brightly, and Akane knew very well what was going on. This was not an accident what just happened moments ago. More than meets the eyes? Definitely.

"So, where are we going?" Naruto grumbled still giving Akane the stink eye.

"We do some investigating obviously," Kakashi-sensei said. "Akane, you ask around if they saw anyone show shady behavior or if they saw a middle aged brown haired woman who's about 5'5. Sasuke, you look for any signs of a struggle. Kazumi, you stick with me. And Naruto," the boy looked eager to help out and nodded brightly, "just don't get hurt again. Stick around Sasuke or Akane, I guess. I don't care which one. Meet me back here in an hour! Move out!"

And they all headed out, leaving behind a disgruntled Naruto. Akane smirked amusedly as she headed out to ask strangers about a kidnapping… so that she assumed.

She stepped in front of the first stranger she saw. He looked mildly annoyed at his day being interrupted, but hell she didn't care about him.

"Hey, I was wondering if you saw a weirdo sometime today?"

"Besides you?"

"Bite me," she said. "But seriously, have you seen any shady behavior? Like an attack?"

"No."

"Anything weird?"

"I heard a model was coming here. That's about it."

"You're useless," Akane said with a scoff.

She left him and went onto her next person. And went on like this for quite some time. All were pretty much the same. Either these idiots were all paid off, silenced by fear, they genuinely didn't see anything, or a combination of any of those things.

The hour was up, so she met back up with her teammates.

"Anything?" Kakashi-sensei asked.

"No," Akane and Sasuke said in unison.

"Where's Naruto?" he asked.

"Who cares?" Akane said bluntly.

Sasuke seemed to share in that sentiment. Kakashi-sensei frowned at their dismissal and lack of care for their other teammate. Big deal. The guy was disposable to her. What was so special about him?

"You both should care," he said.

"Aw, did little kitty get kidnapped too?" Kazumi pouted.

"No," Kakashi-sensei said. "We don't need another kidnapping."

"HEEEELLLLLPPPPP!"

Everyone whipped their heads around to see what all the hullabaloo was about. Naruto was dangling from the bridge by one hand and screaming his head off. Akane laughed shortly before she and the other ran toward the idiot.

Kakashi-sensei grabbed his wrist and yanked him up easily. He dropped him on the bridge irritably.

"What are you doing?" he said tersely.

"I got attacked!"

"What?" he said.

"I was jumped! I was yelling for Akane and Kazumi, then some guy came at me from behind! I slipped on the ice and I almost fell!"

Akane grabbed the thing in his hand, curious about it. It seems to be a funny shaped kunai. No wait, this was Kirigakure's kunai. It was a specific shape for their village. What the hell? So a ninja from Kirigakure jumped Naruto? Again, what the hell?

"So, more ninja from Kirigakure are after us?" Akane sighed irritably, waving around the stupid knife. "Did he say anything to you, Naruto?"

"He said: 'Kazumi' and then he attacked me!" Naruto wailed. "I wanted to beat him up so badly!"

"We need to get inside," Kakashi-sensei said. "We need to talk about this in private. Kazumi-chan, did you book a place?"

"We rented a hotel room," she said, looking ruffled by today's events.

"Let's go."

X

They were settled in. Akane called the futon meant for the manager. She put her stuff on it just to show that it was indeed hers. The boys sans for Kakashi-sensei were none too pleased about it. She just smirked. She took off her coat and hung it up on an ice hook by the door, waiting to see what they're going to do about all this.

"Alright, I suppose I should read you the ransom note now that no one else can hear," he said with a sigh, looking rather disenchanted to do so. He held up the paper anyway and began to read: "'Kazumi, we have your manager. Meet us at Kōri at 2:00 January 15th. Bring no one. If you come we'll exchange you for your manager. No harm will come to either of you if you comply'."

"That's three weeks from today," Akane immediately assessed. "I'm ready."

"I definitely want to beat up that guy who jumped me!" Naruto growled.

"I could use a challenge," Sasuke said.

"No," Kakashi-sensei immediately shut them down. "This is a very delicate operation. I need to train you kids before you do something stupid and get Kazumi-chan's manager killed."

"Please don't," she said, concern colored her face.

Training? But she beat those lousy chunin on their way to the village. Come on, she could take on a couple of more. She could easily get Kazumi's manager back in one piece. If her lousy, useless teammates got caught in the crossfire then that's their own damn fault. Akane wasn't a baby sitter. Her first and everyone else last. That's how she operated.

"What do you mean training?"

"You all suck at teamwork," he said blatantly. "And you're too weak for this assignment. Don't worry. I can help though." he looked absolutely _thrilled_. "Go to bed. We're training at the crack of dawn," he said.

"That means we can show up at 9:00 in the morning," Naruto whispered to Akane and Sasuke.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"


	5. Initial Rivalry

Yet again, the guy was late beyond reasonability. Disrespectful was what it was. And that was her talking. It's why she brought her makeup, and she was doing it with her hand held mirror and the sharp morning, winter light. She might as well make the best of her time. That is until an annoying orange thing stepped in front of her.

"Uh, hello, you're in my light," she said, giving him a mildly scathing look.

"Come on, we should demand he'd show up on time and let us fight that bastard who jumped me," he said. "Let's stand up to him!"

"It's too early for yelling, fox boy," she said, pushing him out of the way before getting back to her makeup.

"Ugh, don't sound like Kazumi!"

Suddenly, "Hello all, I seemed to have been swept up in the tide of change," he lied.

"Bullshit!" Naruto shouted.

Akane simply kept applying her makeup. She was almost done. She'd done it so many times it was almost like a science to her now. When the last inch of her lips were glossed, she put all of it in her makeup bag. One last fluff through her hair and she'll be good. After she was done, she noticed the others were giving her a look for it.

"What? You act like you just met me," she said simply. "Let's get on with this."

Kakashi-sensei said, "First, you need to work on your chakra control."

"Uh…," Naruto laughed uncomfortably. "What's chakra?"

Akane shook her head in shame at his sheer stupidity. How in the world did this kid pass the academy? He must of been the teacher's pet at the end. Duh. She wouldn't have passed him; the guy didn't know his basic ninja stuff. What. An. Idiot.

"Does it hurt to be that stupid, dobe?" Sasuke said.

Naruto's face exploded in red with embarrassment. Akane laughed drily.

"Shut up, Sasuke!"

"How do you even get up in the morning without breaking your brain?" Akane added insult to injury.

"Akane, I swear I'll—"

"Enough," Kakashi-sensei said without much of a commitment to it. "Someone explain it to him."

Akane looked at Sasuke expectantly. She wasn't going to do it. What? She was intelligent, but she wasn't some nerd slave for this team. The "team" wasn't really a team at all in her eyes. They were just people she had to do missions with. So let Mr. Number-One-In-The-Class do it. She had more important things to do… like think about herself.

She glanced over and saw that he wasn't thrilled about explaining it either. Too bad. She wasn't giving in. Especially not for him.

"Alright, Sasuke, you explain it."

"Why?"

"Because you were number one in the academy this year," Kakashi-sensei replied easily.

Then he began into this long, albeit dispassionate, speech about what chakra is. Blah, blah, blibbity, blah, she's heard it all before. She consistently got 100s in her assignments. Been there, done that. She plucked a nail filer out of her bag and started shaping her press-on (still salty about that) to match her other nails.

"Now, with that said," Kakashi-sensei said, regaining her attention. "It's time you learn to control your chakra. It's one of the fundamentals of being a ninja. Learn it. Now, since there aren't any trees I want you to walk across the water until you reach the end of the river. I'll give you a demonstration."

He took a big step and walked across the water effortlessly. He didn't sink or anything. He walked in a short circle and stepped onto the icy street once again. Eh, she's seen cooler.

"Whoa!" Naruto shouted.

He was unphased. "You try it."

"Ha! I bet you can't do it Aka— Akane, where'd you go?!"

"Over here, dumbass," she said, unamused.

She was standing on the end of the river where they were supposed to be. Her arms were crossed, and her expression was mildly unamused. Mostly bored is what she felt.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" she heard Naruto shout at the top of his lungs.

"Quiet, you," Kakashi-sensei said, dropping his fist on Naruto's head.

Akane walked back over there, and stepped in front of her sensei. She was still bored and wanted to do something that wasn't a complete waste of her time. Come on, they learned this at the academy for crying out loud.

"Well, well, look who's good at chakra control," he said with a small smirk. "It seems you're closer to being the most influential person in the world. Well, a lot closer than these two losers who want to be Hokage and kill a man."

The boys looked ticked. She smirked. Why did irritating people feel so good even if she wasn't the one dishing it out. Maybe, it helped her forget that back at the village her house was completely empty. Maybe, that was the benefit.

"I'm bored," Akane told Kakashi-sensei. "Can I go now?"

"Not yet," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder to keep her from leaving the vicinity. "I have more training for you, young lady. There are some things you haven't learned in the academy. First, let's see if the boys can get it."

They looked determined. Naruto looked seriously angered seeing that he yelled out and started at a run. He even declared, "I'LL BEAT YOU, AKANE!" Sasuke ran too but no yell though. When they both hit the water they sunk like rocks. Akane started laughing at them rather maliciously. How did they even perform jutsu without just crapping out? Dumb luck or did they just enjoy wasting chakra? Dumbbbbbb.

"Well, let's go, Akane. Let's find something you can't brag about," Kakashi-sensei said, bored as he turned away from them.

Akane looked towards Naruto and Sasuke one last time. "See you later…, pussies."

Naruto's face pinched in absolute anger and Sasuke didn't seem so happy either. There was something just so satisfying riling them up and just overall being a bitch to irritating people.

Naruto shouted, pointing at her angrily, "I'll beat you, Akane! I will!"

She just scoffed and walked away. Oh please, the guy was an idiot, a screw up, and annoying. She saw no other evidence to the contrary, so she didn't even consider him to be a threat in the slightest.

She stepped into the field of snow at the fringe of the city similar to where the boys were. It was beautiful of course. Rarely was snow ever ugly. Thankfully, Kakashi-sensei was there otherwise she wouldn't bother.

"So, what's this oh so fantastic training I'm going to be doing?" she asked, unamused as she brushed her perfectly coiffed hair behind her shoulder.

"Here," he said while tossing her a piece of paper.

She caught it, but then she gave him a look for it. What the heck was a stupid piece of paper supposed to do? How was this supposed to make her more of a badass than she already was? It didn't have any instructions written on it. So why did he give her this?

"What is this?" she said, giving him a look.

"Put some chakra on it," he said, not looking up from his porn book… ehem 'erotic novel.'

She shrugged and did it. She wasn't really sure what it would acco— whoa! The paper went up in flames, and she let go of it immediately. It fizzled into nothing against the snow. She looked up at him irritably.

"You're such an ass," she said irritably.

"As reigning queen, are you afraid you'll be dethroned?" he said with a small smirk.

"I can hold my own, sensei," she smirked back. "Now, tell me why I almost burned my hand?"

"Your nature type is fire. Big surprise," he said drily, clearly sarcastic.

Fire type? That was what her chakra naturally transformed into? Well, he wasn't wrong about her being a fiery kind of girl. Her hair and passion spoke of that quite well. But if he was talking about her being a raging bitch. Well, well, she wouldn't stand for that.

"I hope you were referring to my hair," she said.

"Of course… fire crotch," he said with a small smirk.

"Shut up," she said simply. "Now, why does my nature type matter?"

"You're going to train, smartie pants," he said while smirking. "Perhaps, you'll find this to be a challenge. It's a higher form of chakra control that usually takes decades for ninja to master. You probably won't get it by the time we take on whoever's got Kazumi's manager, but you'll gain a lot of sta—"

"HAGGH!" she exclaimed, punching at the snow. Part of it sizzled a little. Only a little though.

While he was yapping off about things she didn't care about, she was actually concentrating her chakra to fit her nature of fire to burn some snow. Although, it wasn't what she wanted, a firestorm in place of that snow, it was definitely an accomplishment. She'd get it. She had no doubt in her mind. Confidence was a virtue of hers that came naturally, and it'd get her where she wanted to go.

"Well, you're getting somewhere. Most shinobi burn themselves," he said. "I sus—"

"I'll burn this glacier to the ground by the end of three weeks," she declared. "I'll bet you the money those losers owe me."

"I don't see why this has to be a contest," he said dully.

"And when I win you owe me 600 ryō."

He blanched for a moment. Yes, most people were a little put off by her overwhelming confidence and self assurance. But rarely if ever was she wrong.

"Oh, I see. You just want a little cash from your sensei," he stated.

That too. Money never hurt.

"Since mommy dearest left, money's been very important to me," she said tightly. "It's a bet, sensei!"

X

"Can you believe this?!" Naruto shouted incredulously, coming back to the river.

"What?" Sasuke said, sounding disinterested and mildly frustrated that he kept sinking like rocks in the cold river.

"Akane gets special training!"

Sasuke's face pinched like he tasted a lemon. He was number one in the class, yet Akane was the one who was best at chakra control. Seriously? She was the one who was supposed to be the brains and brains alone in the team. Yet she was physically the strongest and most competent ninja in the group (in the fundamentals department). She even won a stupid bell from their buffoon of a sensei. He knew he would win if they were to exchange blows. He was an Uchiha, an elite ninja by blood, and superior to anyone and everyone. She wasn't better than him. No way.

"Hn."

"Doesn't it fire you up?" Naruto demanded.

"No," he said candidly. "Now, leave me alone, usuratonkachi."

"Hey!" he started at a run, zooming ahead at the water. "I'm going to be the one to beat Aka—AAAHH!"

He managed two steps before plunging into the icy waters below yet again. Sasuke didn't fair much better. How the two of them didn't freeze to death was a mystery. Sheer determination to best their infuriating teammate was what it was most likely. They couldn't fathom how Akane could be so skilled in chakra control. What wasn't she good at? What could they beat her in? They wanted to be the strongest on the team. And one of them believed he could still kick her ass.

X

Kazumi was back at her hotel room. The doors were locked, and she was sitting on her futon, waiting for Kakashi to return. The usually bright exterior wasn't present. She was shaking. Fear was beginning to really hit her now that she was alone. Her manager was kidnapped. And her manager was the only person who took care of her well. Now that she's gone, who was going to do it?

She heard the tumblers of the lock turn. Immediately, she hid behind the futon, blue eyes peeking over in fear. She hoped it was Kakashi. She didn't want to be kidnapped either.

The door opened and, "Oh, it's you, Sensei," she said in relief, putting on an eccentric and cutesy face for dramatic effect. She got up and stated, "What took you so long? You know I don't like being alone."

He would imagine she wouldn't. Models, especially ones as beautiful and voluptuous as Kazumi, wouldn't know what "alone" even was. She definitely had a lot of admirers. Before he came back to the room, he asked the receptionist if a "Kazumi" was staying here just to make sure there wasn't a trail for the kidnappers. The receptionist said no. That told him that her manager needed to keep a low profile for Kazumi. He assumed the original reason is to keep eccentric fans from harassing her. Perhaps now, it'll be to keep weirdos from kidnapping her or her manager.

She came close, and he stiffened. She had such big blue eyes people have probably drowned in them before; he was sure of it. Hands grasped his, and he stiffened further. His back knocked into the door. No escape.

"Um, Kazumi-chan," he began.

"I have several shoots to do today. Will you escort me? I don't want to die," she said, smiling at him. Those lashes that he swore were up to God were batting at him.

"Uh, sure, I've got nothing better to do," he said uncomfortably, scratching the back of his head with one hand and the other was going for the door knob.

He was out of the hotel room in the ice hallway. An adequate amount of space was put between them. She just continued to smile at him. He wondered if she was even aware of her effect on him. He had a fleeting feeling she was, but she was so dense he figured she didn't.

She handed him her bag. It was surprisingly heavy. What did she have in this thing? How many costumes did she need?

"Come along, sensei," she said excitedly, kicking the hotel door shut behind her.

He shifted her bag on his shoulder, and he walked beside her down the chilly hallway. Eventually, the two of them made it to the building where she was to do her photoshoot. It was a lovely ice building like the other ice buildings. For a moment, he wondered how it was even functional to begin with, but then he decided he didn't care enough to find out.

"Right through here!" she said excitedly.

She opened the door and didn't hold it open for him either as she marched on. She had a high, dumb energy about her. It reminded him of Naruto except she was far less annoying and had a sweet charm to it. She had the dumb, cheery thing working for her. It made it hard for someone to snap at her given how sweet her delivery was.

"Kazumi!" a woman exclaimed. "Get over here."

He looked over and saw a woman with a camera next to the professional lighting and set up. He saw a back room in which he assumed was the makeup and prep trailer. Another woman who looked rather stressed came up to him and took Kazumi's stuff before rushing into the back room, proving his point.

"Let Reina do your makeup," the woman with the camera said. "And hurry."

"Yes, ma'am!" she exclaimed and smiled as she ran into the back room.

Kakashi took a seat, knowing he had nothing to do beyond this. He could think of worse missions than watching beautiful models pose in elaborate costumes for the camera. This wasn't a bad gig. Plus, he could catch up on his reading.

As the hours dragged on, eventually she seemed to be done. She was back in her winter attire she came in. And he noticed that she was talking to some other model.

"Wow, your boyfriend's a ninja?"

"Oh, he's not my—"

"He's cute," she cupped the side of her mouth and whispered playfully in Kazumi's ear while bumping the blonde's side with her elbow. "He's got that 'I don't care' attitude, but I bet you he's a wild one in the sack. I can see it in that cold eye of his. That's how he lets his freak out."

"Akina!" Kazumi exclaimed, flabbergasted by the other woman's comment.

Kakashi easily heard their conversation. He didn't need ninja ears to hear what was going on. His face felt a little hot. Akina is terrible at whispering. He tried his best to ignore it all together. Quite honestly, he was in the middle of reading a particularly steamy scene in his erotic novel, and he would love to get back to it. He didn't need two models joking or speculating about his sex life. Models had a plethora of people to choose from as sexual partners. He knew when he was out of his league in looks. And he certainly didn't have the riches to attract such beauty. Why bother?

"I'm going to get some shaved ice," Kazumi said, clearly still uncomfortable as Akina continued to giggle.

He looked up and saw her smiling at him and reaching for him. He let himself be grabbed by the forearm. She lifted him, and they stood at about the same height. Tall is considered conventionally attractive.

"Aren't you supposed to be modeling still?" he asked with disenchantment.

"Not until an hour," she said cheerily. "Modeling is very tiring, don't you know?"

"Sure," he said, tone flat and insincere.

"I'm so glad you understand," she said in her usual upbeat tone, missing it entirely.

He didn't bother to look up from his book as she dragged him to wherever. He assumed it was for that shaved ice. He would imagine they would have plenty of ice around her. He would rather go for a hot chocolate… perhaps spiked with vodka if it's going to be this long of a day.

"Ooh, they have ice cream, shaved ice, and coffee!" Kazumi exclaimed, looking at the sign on display.

"I'll take a coffee," he said, pulling out his wallet, but a warm little hand was on top of his.

He wasn't proud to say his breathing stopped. Any time it felt like an intimate contact was had, he'd freeze up and suddenly not know how to function properly. It was dumb. He was normally so calm and unphased, but one very beautiful woman was making it hard to be like that. After all, it wasn't like a supermodel touched him on the regular.

"No, I'll get it for you. You did help me after all," then she whispered with her hand cupped over her mouth so the vendor couldn't hear her, "with you know what."

"Alright," Kakashi said after clearing his throat and pulling his hand away.

"This guy your boyfriend or something?" the vendor asked as she pulled out her wallet, which of course, was shaped like a kitten.

"No," they said simultaneously with two very different tones. His dull and hers amused.

"Sure," the vendor said sarcastically. Then he filled the styrofoam cup up with coffee and gave it to him. "And for you, young lady?"

"Ice cream," she said.

He was surprised she'd let that much sugar in her bloodstream. Models typically don't eat much of anything in order to be really thin. Then again, Kazumi was more on the voluptuous side. Maybe all that sugar went to straight to her tits. Whatever.

When the vendor gave her the frozen treat, she took Kakashi's wrist and dragged him away again. Where they were going he had no idea. He was simply the protector here along for whatever ride.

"It's pretty over here," Kazumi supplied.

They sat by the ice fountain spraying cold water. That turned to ice and then water again in a beautiful cycle. She wasn't wrong. Everything in this city was gorgeous it seemed.

"I suppose so," he said.

"I mean it is what boyfriends and girlfriends do," she said amusedly as she laughed.

"I'm not your boyfriend," he sighed despite knowing it was a joke.

X

Akane was panting hard. She kept trying to keep a fire going to burn that snow pile down. Her energy was lacking, her chakra was getting low, and she was about to completely exert herself. She knew she was. Her coat was hanging from a tree since she was practically soaking in sweat and heat despite the cold, winter air. She was pushing until she was on her last drop or chakra. She was going to get this no matter how difficult.

Flashes of her "mother's" face kept flashing before her eyes as she continued to punch and try to produce fire. As memory of the woman who she thought was her blood relative and actually loved her despite the redhead's flaws, her fists started flying faster and faster. Sparks flew. Her eyes narrowed in fury at the thought of that horrid note, the empty house awaiting her.

"HAAA! UGH!"

A fire ball appeared in her hands and shot her back on her ass. She was out of breath, desperately trying to get it back as she stared at the blue sky above. Her hands were hurting badly. She didn't need to looked down to know exactly what was wrong. They were scorched just like her attitude.

She laid there and felt the progress in her training. She knew she was getting somewhere. Though her emotions were getting in the way of true progress and completion. Yes, her anger and negative emotions and baggage were giving her an edge yes. But she couldn't control it. The flames were either indubitable for her body or too weak. She was hitting a wall. And she never hit walls. Being a ninja was easy for her. This was new.

She went back to the hotel and saw the boys along the way. She scoffed at the their freezing bodies amusedly. It seems they took a plunge in that freezing cold water more than once today.

"D-d-d-don't y-y-y-you s-say i-i-it, Akane!" Naruto shouted through clanking teeth, pointing at her.

Her smirk just grew. "I bet both of guys's balls retracted right back into your body… not that you had any to begin with," she teased, smirk absolutely ruthless.

They both went after her, but she smacked them easily in the throats with her forearm. That didn't mean it didn't sting both of them though. All three groaned in pain. Her poor little hands were torched and her palm ended up getting the aftershock.

"I hate you," all three of them said in unison.

Suddenly, Kazumi and Kakashi-sensei appeared at the hotel room. She looked confused and him unamused.

"Girls, girls, girls you're all pretty," Kazumi said with a smile.

"I hate her more," the three genin said in unison as well.


	6. Ninja Mission Gone Wrong

The next morning, they were all eating breakfast at the inn's little cafe. Akane's hands were wrapped in gaz, but she woofed down her miso soup and rice cakes so quickly that it gave the illusion that her little palms were just fine. She noticed the boys were doing the same. What? Those little scabs thought they'd be better at anything other than her? Ha! She reigned supreme in her group.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Naruto go for a piece of her rice. Her face pinched. Just before his gross little fingers went for it, she closed her chopsticks together and stabbed him in the hand.

"OWW!" Naruto howled.

Kazumi gasped and hid behind Kakashi-sensei dramatically. Half of her face was peeking over his shoulder as she peered at them.

"Just whose food do you think you're stealing?" Akane asked.

"Serves you right, dobe," Sasuke said evenly with a small smirk.

"Get along. No violence at the table," Kakashi-sensei said, sounding _sooo_ invested.

Akane scoffed as she removed the chopsticks from his hand. She didn't embed it into his skin, but she saw the whelp start to form. What did he expect? She was incredibly strong, and she didn't see the need to sugar coat it. Naruto shouldn't steal her food unless he wanted payback. She remembered from the academy in some cultures, they'll take your hand in penance. So, he got off clean.

"You're so mean!" Naruto hissed.

"And you're a thief," she said simply as she finished her rice cakes.

She reapplied her lipstick, and then left the hotel to get to her training spot. An itching feeling scratched at her, a feeling that she wasn't alone, a feeling that she was being followed. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. Who was arrogant enough to try to sneak up on her? Did this idiot think she wasn't a ninja? She had an inkling of who was stupid enough.

"Naruto," she sighed in irritation. "Don't be a pussy. Come out and fight me."

Silence.

She rolled her eyes. Then, she turned around and that feeling disappeared. That was so very weird; usually, the idiot revealed himself. He was terrible at remaining stealthy. He preferred attacking stupidly, openly. But no, it felt like the creepy, watching presence disappeared as soon as she turned around. Weird. She went back to training cautiously.

X

Kakashi rarely appreciated his job as a ninja. It wasn't an easy life, and he's definitely lost quite a bit. But, body guarding a model who doesn't mind his presence is a rare perk given most models don't need a ninja at his level for protection. And, over these past two weeks he's starting to realize he couldn't remember a time not being in her presence. Hmm.

He was wondering what was taking so long after her photoshoot. He's seen the other models leave the dressing room. Surely, she's done changing by now. Maybe, she was taken. In the few moments she wasn't watched by him, someone snuck in and kidnapped her too. Without much thought, he walked forward and walked into the dressing room.

"Kazumi-chan?" he questioned.

His eyes saw her through the mirror taking off the last pieces of her jewelry off and sitting at the vanity.

"Kakashi-sensei, barging in on a lady is a sign of _very_ poor manners," she said amusedly as she looked up at him through the mirror.

"I… I apologize. I thought perhaps someone might have kidnapped you as well," he explained.

She continued to smile coyly at him before standing, and brushing her skirt and leggings of any dust or dirt. She walked towards him, and he felt himself stiffen at her proximity. She always put him on edge. She's so beautiful that she's like looking in the sun; he shouldn't look at her directly, and she's blinding. He certainly hadn't seen someone like her in real life.

"Your concern is sweet," she said in her usual highly feminine tone and cutesy smile.

She then grasped his arm gently, and it felt as if he was going to jump out of his skin. She led him towards the exit, and he followed easily. She was shuffling slowly and yawning softly. He didn't understand how modeling would wear someone out, but she wasn't exactly a muscular woman who trained regularly.

She let out a large, dramatic sigh and said, "My feet are sore."

She stumbled, and he caught her to keep her from smashing into the pavement. He now had her in his arms, and he couldn't help the heat growing on his face. Was he overstepping his boundaries? Should he let her go? Should he apologize?

She looked up at him and smiled tiredly up at him. Then, she buried her face into his neck. He could feel her breath on his skin, and he stiffened considerably. He's never been close to a model, and, well, he wouldn't admit this, but he has _seen_ her photos….

"Will you carry me?"

"I-I, uh—"

"Please," she murmured, making his skin jump.

He couldn't refuse her. He's tried, but he just can't. So, he picked her up and held her in his arms. He heard a soft giggle from her as she held onto him. He tried his hardest to stay poised, but his face was hot under his mask, and her overwhelming scent of lilac and vanilla wasn't helping.

They went back to the hotel with looks from strangers, most cooing at how adorable it is. His face was on fire, but she seemed to find it amusing. She seemed to genuinely like him, and it seemed way too good to be true. Surely, there was a catch. How did she not have a boyfriend? She's beautiful, nice, successful, and a model. What's the catch? Why him? Did the thrill of him being a ninja entice her that much?

He set her down back on her feet in order to open the door. She made a disappointed sound as she continued to lean on him for support. Once they were inside, he sat her down on one of the futons. She mumbled a "thank you" before promptly falling asleep.

He should probably leave. It's not polite and, quite frankly, a little creepy to watch someone sleeping who isn't your lover.

After a moment, he stood and crossed the room. He began reading _Makeout Paradise_ whilst she slept. And, he couldn't help himself and kept looking back and forth between the pages and her just wondering. He shouldn't compare an erotic novel to her and how things have been developing between them, but he could hope. He could hope a woman way out of his league would actually like him. At least let him pretend.

X

She was getting somewhere as she continued to punch the ice hill with fire. Well, as much fire as she could conjure. It was more than halfway melted. She just wanted to keep a flame without burning her skin. She didn't get burnt _that_ badly over the past couple of weeks, but it still smarted. It was completely different when she would punch things to take out her aggression; her hands adapted to that pain after all. The burning pain, no, she hadn't adapted to that.

She concentrated. Her chakra control was damn near perfect, so this, in theory, should be easy. What was her hangup? She concentrated as she focused on bringing her nature into it, trying to put away her anger at Fuyuku to concentrate. It wasn't easy.

She opened her eyes and punched the small hill. She watched the small flame and sizzle. It was a slight improvement. She smirked.

That nagging feeling was back, and she heard a crack of a stick not that far away. She rolled her eyes.

"Alright, whoever is spying on me, show yourself now and I won't kill you, 'kay?" she sighed irritably.

Suddenly, a young girl appeared. Her hair is black and long, and her face is pale and gentle. She was wearing a pea coat, a scarf, and a long skirt. The elegance and poise were striking.

Why was she here? She's out in the backwoods on purpose: to be alone to train and release all the anger and frustration in her life. Akane eyed the girl suspiciously.

"Why are you here?"

"I'm just out enjoying nature."

"Hmhm," she said sarcastically. "Don't take this the wrong way; well, actually, I don't care how you take it, but go away. I don't trust people especially when I'm doing special training. You could be a crazy person intending to slit my throat."

"Ooh, special training?" she asked. "Does that mean you're a ninja?"

She eyed the stranger suspiciously. Her arms crossed over her chest as she shifted her weight onto one side. Why now? Why now was this girl here?

"Yes," Akane said slowly.

"If you're a ninja, surely you do this for someone precious, correct?"

The question threw her off. Someone precious? She didn't have that. Her 'friends' at school were merely accessories that kept her from complete isolation. Fuyoko was not much of a mother. She didn't know who her real parents were. And, she didn't have any real friends. So no, she didn't have anyone she cared for. She hoped one day to find her family and demand answers from them, especially Fuyoko.

"No, I don't," she said stiffly.

"What gives you strength then?" the other girl questioned. "Why would you want to become a ninja unless you had someone precious to protect? It makes you so much stronger, and it makes life so much more worth li—"

"Listen, lady," Akane said, putting her well manicured hand up, "I don't know you. And quite frankly, I don't trust you. So skip the lecture, and get gone. I've got training to do."

She saw the other girl's face twitch in anger very briefly before she composed herself again. She didn't say anything further much to the redhead's relief. She turned around going back to converting her chakra into a fire that wouldn't burn her up.

"By the way, I'm a boy."

Akane was taken aback considerably. He was prettier than most girls she meets. Still, he wasn't nearly as pretty as Akane. Rarely is anyone as pretty as Akane after all. She shook her head and continued to punch at the snow.

_Precious, huh?_

Who would deserve to be precious to her? Her team? Granted, Naruto is so annoying that he makes her want to drown him in a bucket. Sasuke has the personality of a wet sponge, and she won't even go into why she won't get close to him; it's a long story. Kakashi-sensei is like Sasuke in that he's cold, but the difference is he's a horny weirdo who openly reads porn and can't possibly express his super crush on Kazumi healthily. They're not terrible, but…

She shook her head. She needed to concentrate.

…

Naruto was freezing. He was getting better, but the punishment of failure was so cold and unforgiving. He didn't understand how Akane is so good at this. She was a mean girl to her core who cared only about makeup, ponies, and other dumb girly stuff he assumed. And yet, here they were. Akane could punch a tree in half, though, he suspected it wasn't _that_ thick of a tree. And, she had perfect chakra control. How? _How_? Was she just a gifted hyper genius? In class, she didn't show any strength or special techniques. Why did she keep it hidden? Why did she become a badass bitch when she wanted to be? He was so jealous.

He remembered asking her how she was so good at chakra control one night before bed: extreme confidence and understanding of what needed to be done. He concentrated, focusing his chakra into his feet. Confidence. Understanding.

He started to run, and he was so sure he'd—

"Naruto."

He fell flat on his face, and he got back up to glare at Sasuke angrily.

"What the hell, Sasuke?! I was just—"

"You spoke to Akane? Right?"

"Yeah," he said confusedly.

His face twitched and pouted like the broody boy he is as he forced himself to ask, "What did she say about… chakra control?"

A slow, shit eating grin grew on Naruto's face in absolute joy. So, the silent asshole wasn't above asking for help from _him_. But how dare he ask Akane himself?

"Nope, I'm not telling," Naruto teased, crossing his arms, smirking, and sticking his nose up.

Sasuke's face pinched in irritation. It brought joy to Naruto. He didn't know whom he was more jealous of, Sasuke or Akane. Either way, he was going to beat him. He felt he needed a win. These two are too good.

He glared at Sasuke as he concentrated chakra into his feet and took off at a run. His feet thundered across the water. And he made it pretty far, keeping up with Sasuke. He smirked triumphantly until he over shot himself, and sank like a rock in the water.

"Gah!" he squealed as he surfaced. "Cold~!"

He stood up from the water with chattering teeth. He immediately ran back to the snow and away from the water quickly. He turned his head back all the while, watching Sasuke plunge into the water as well. He laughed nearly biting his tongue from his chattering teeth. Sasuke was, indeed, ahead of him, but Naruto wasn't that far behind. It brought him so pride in himself.

And, he ran again.

…

It was late at night when the genin turned in for the night. All three were exhausted and depleted in chakra. They slouched at the table. Naruto and Sasuke were shivering almost violently as Akane could barely move her body. Her face planted onto the table, waiting for Kazumi to pass out the rice bowls to them.

"You guys look tuckered out," Kazumi pouted in that fake way that drove Akane nuts, but the redhead was so tired she couldn't be bothered beyond an annoyed glare.

"Just feed us," Akane, Naruto, and Sasuke said simultaneously.

Kazumi frowned before handing out the bowls. She sat beside Kakashi and smiled at all of them. Akane didn't particularly care as her shaky arms lifted to feed herself.

"Tomorrow is the day we're going to Kōri," Kakashi-sensei announced.

The three genin's heads lifted in shock and realization. How could all that time just slip away from them?

"Tomorrow?!"

"But, I'm not done with my training!" Akane exclaimed incredulously.

"Neither are we!" Naruto said as well.

"Well, tomorrow is the date on the ransom note. We're going to meet them at 2:00 to save her manager," Kakashi-sensei said regardless. "Either come or don't."

"We're going," the three genin said.

Then, they looked at each other suspiciously for being on the same page as of late. What were their periods going to sync up next?

"By the way, you never told us what kind of training Akane has been doing!" Naruto demanded. "Why does she get special treatment?"

"Because she's better at chakra control than the both of you. And as for her training, you'll get it once you've mastered chakra control," he told them.

"Yeah, it's _my_ business," she poked fun at them, "so don't be a nosy asshole. Maybe, if you two trained and studied basic ninja shit, then you'd get the same opportunities."

She smirked when they both looked as if they're going to lunge after her. Kakashi-sensei grabbed them by the scruff and kept them from doing so. Both Akane and Kazumi laughed at their expense.

"I want to fight her so badly!" Naruto exclaimed.

Sasuke nodded his head in agreement.

"I'm going to bed. You all bore me," Akane smirked.

X

The next day Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, and Kazumi were at Kōri on the bridge, waiting for whoever to bring Megumi. They looked around and didn't see a sign of any hired thugs or Akane for that matter.

"Where's Akane?" Naruto questioned.

"Who cares?" Sasuke said almost instantly.

"I gave the option on whether or not any of you could come or not," Kakashi said.

"I guess she's the one who's the real pussy," Naruto chuckled and teased.

Sasuke didn't laugh with him, but he did make one, small amused sound in the back of his throat.

"Now focus, we're getting both Kazumi and her manager out of this safely."

Kazumi nodded fiercely as she stood behind all of them, cowering specifically behind Kakashi. They kept looking everywhere and their watches. It was one minute until Kazumi's manager and the ninja holding her manager would be here. There wasn't a single sign of anyone. Akane wasn't coming, and they didn't see any other ninja holding Kazumi's manager. Were they tricked? Their target is clearly Kazumi. Surely, they wouldn't miss this opportunity.

Then, as if out of thin air, a kunai whizzed by Naruto's cheek, scaring him. In the middle of the bridge, a gush of water manifested a Kirigakure ninja with Kazumi's manager pulled to him with a kunai at her throat. Everyone stiffened in fear except for Kakashi.

"Megumi-san!" Kazumi exclaimed, relieved.

She was about to lunge for her roughed up manager, but Kakashi held her back as he continued to glare at the masked man. Why did this man look so familiar? And then, it dawned on him who exactly he was.

"Momochi Zabuza?" Kakashi said incredulously.

The name rang a bell for Sasuke. He heard of the name in the bingo book. He was an S-class rogue ninja that defected from Kirigakure. It was said he was so vicious he murdered everyone in his graduating class. Why would someone _that_ dangerous be hired to fetch a model?

"Hatake Kakashi," he noted. "I see you're the one involved with Kazumi. If you hand her over for my boss, her manager lives."

"What does your boss want with me?" Kazumi asked incredulously.

"Didn't ask, but I'm sure you can put two and two together," he smirked.

All of them balked. They couldn't understand why someone would be so crass as to kidnap an innocent manager in order to get into the pants of a model. There weren't many rich people in the world, but the few that were seemed to possess no boundaries. Whatever problem they have, they can just buy their way out of it.

"Akane… was right," Naruto whispered incredulously and angrily. Then he yelled, "Why is Akane always right?!"

"Shut up," the three of them told Naruto simultaneously.

The blond boy continued to pout and stew in his irritation of his teammate who seemed to understand people so much more than he thought she deserved. He wasn't the only one who shared the sentiment. After all, she knew how to manipulate just about everyone around her; it was how she gained such popularity and probably got the best trainers during the time she was in the academy to be such a good ninja already. It just wasn't fair especially with how bad of an attitude she possesses.

"Fine, I'll go," Kazumi shouted to him in a shaky voice. "Just… just promise me that Megumi-san and I won't be harmed."

"No," Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke said simultaneously. They exchanged an odd look for their repeated synchronicity that day.

She faced them, back turned to Zabuza and her manager as she said, "Please, trust me." To show Kakashi and block it from all others, she held up the text written on her hand: 'I'll slowly cut small pieces of my hair to leave a trail for you to follow me'.

He masked his reaction as Naruto threw a temper tantrum about being too short to see it, and Sasuke looked mildly perturbed as well. Then, she erased the ink in a black smudge on her palm quickly.

"Well, are you going to let me save my manager?" she asked, looking at him earnestly.

"I… I can't stop you," Kakashi said, knowing fully well Zabuza could hear their conversation despite the distance between them.

"Wait, I don't get it! What did she—"

Kakashi hammer fisted Naruto on the head, granted not that hard but enough to get his point across.

"Shut up."

Kazumi walked forward across the bridge, and the preteen boys were unsettled. They weren't confident in the model, whomst they were supposed to protect, safety. But Kakashi held up his arm to keep them from intervening. He didn't look at them though, his single eye was well trained on her retreating form. They didn't say a word, sensing what their teacher meant.

He stepped forward alone, following closely behind Kazumi, planning to intervene if anything went south. When they reached the middle of the bridge, she stopped, shaking with fear. Her knees knocking together much the same as her manager. Their eyes met briefly.

"I-I'm doing as you said," the blonde said softly. "G-give her to K-Kakashi-sensei."

Zabuza's eyes narrowed suspiciously. They understood. He thought this was too easy. What was the catch? He looked her over, having memorized her appearance in order to make sure he did his job correctly. There wasn't a single flaw in her. This is Kazumi. She wasn't a fake or decoy.

He then looked over at Kakashi, both carefully moving towards each other for the exchange. As they moved closer to one another Kazumi flinched in disgust and fear at Zabuza. He ignored it. He grasped her arm just as Kakashi took hold of Megumi's arm as well. Then, they both let go in unison.

Megumi sobbed in relief, but Kazumi sobbed in terror. The manager reached out for her client, but Kakashi kept her at bay not wanting to put Kazumi in any more danger.

Tears flowed down the blonde's face as she was dragged away from her manager, looking back at them morosely. All of them reached the ends of the bridge and…

_Poof!_

A burst of smoke appeared and the transformation jutsu was released and out came Akane. Zabuza's eyes widened in absolute shock and surprise. He wasn't the only one. But she just smirked widely and used the temporary shock to her advantage.

She drew her fist back before smashing it into the forearm that held her arm. Zabuza cried out in pain, roaring loudly, and releasing her arm. In mid flip, she kicked him in the chin. When she landed, she was a few feet away from him, noticing the bruises she left behind.

"How dare you, you little shit," he hissed, looking at his arm and everywhere for Kazumi.

"Oh no, did I break your arm?" She teased, smirking widely at him. "Lil' ole me couldn't have done that."

"Akane!" Kakashi-sensei shouted.

She didn't dare look away from her opponent, knowing in a split second the game could change entirely. And, well, it did.

He raised his broken arm, placing his other hand up to his lips. "Kirigakure no Jutsu!" he shouted.

Soon, the entire area was covered in thick mist. She couldn't see a thing. She wasn't accustomed to one of her senses being out. She knew his intention. He wanted not only to disorientate her, but he also wanted to separate her from her teammates and illicit fear. She could feel it trying to penetrate the edges of her mind just like a genjutsu, but she was supremely confident and wanted to take down a jōnin. She wanted to prove to herself and try out the fruits of her training. The psychological element of this technique wasn't going to ruin this for her.

She looked around excessively and tried to use her ears to hear any clues. Suddenly, he appeared from behind, and she turned around just in time to see Kakashi's kunai clash with his giant blade. Her smirk didn't disappear though.

"Get out of here, Akane."

"No, I trained for this shit. Why did you teach me just to tell me no."

"This guy is on a whole other level than we anticipated. Keep yourself and your teammates safe!"

Her lip curled in irritation. She was about to argue further, but the look in his eye and the weight of the situation was beginning to dawn on her. He was correct that her teammates needed her since they were weaker than her. Duh. But, she wasn't going to give up fighting a strong opponent; she wanted to test her powers god dammit!

"Fine," she said, gritting her teeth.

She was about to leave, but then a loud scream echoed throughout the mist. And suddenly, Naruto appeared angrily, surprising everyone. His aim was towards Zabuza.

"Dammit, I won't let Akane beat him!" Naruto screamed.

He had several shadow clones aim for Zabuza, but the man rolled his eyes. He smacked the idiot backwards, picking out the real one easily, and sent him flying in the air. Akane gasped, unable to get out of the way quickly enough as Naruto crashed into her. He sent them both flying and flying and flying off the bridge.

The two of them screamed as she went into one of her bags and quickly, pulling out a grappling hook attached to a wire. She threw it, and it hooked. The two of them came to a sudden stop, dangling from the bridge. Naruto happened to grasp her hand as she glared down at him with absolute irritation.

He giggled, flushed, and tried his best to get out of it. "Oops," he said.

She let go of him, but his hand grasped her wrist. He kept her from doing so much to her chagrin.

"Akane!" he said incredulously, wide eyed.

"This is all your fault, you dumb ass," she hissed angrily. "We could've died. And if you survived, and I would come back as a ghost to haunt your ass forever"

"Sorry," he said, sheepishly and fearfully.

She looked around, wondering which side of the snowy mountain was closer. She decided and began to swing on the wire towards it. After a moment, Naruto began to catch on and help her with the momentum.

"One."

"Two."

"Three."

Finally, they were close enough that they were able to let go. Their feet came in contact with the wall. Akane stayed put perfectly, using her chakra to stick properly. Naruto, however, began to slip. She sighed through her nose irritably. But then, he began to stick.

"I'm going to bridge," she said, running up and ahead of him.

"Wait for me!"

"If you can't keep up," she teased maliciously with a smirk.

She saw the determination on his face as he tried to keep up as best he could. When they neared the top, they were neck and neck. She gave him a bratty look and elbowed him. Both were trying to stay ahead through not so friendly means. Eventually, they both reached the top, panting harshly.

No one was there. The bridge wasn't there. How far did Zabuza knock them backwards? They looked around desperately. Where were they?

"Kakashi-sensei! Sasuke!" Naruto shouted. "Where are you?!"

No one was to be seen, and the gravity of the situation began to sink. Zabuza could've had partners or could be lurking elsewhere. Hell, their other teammates could be dead after all. Immediately, she instructed Naruto to hide out with her to strategize. He agreed, and the two of them found a cave with an ice sheet to fight back the wind and cold.

And well, now that they had a breather, Akane couldn't take it anymore.

"Of course! I get stranded with a complete _loser_!" she shouted in anger.

"Why are you such a bitch, Akane?!" Naruto exclaimed. "You have everything. You have _everything_! You've got friends, family, money! _And_ you're a badass ninja! What more could you want?!"

"I have everything?!" she exclaimed incredulously.

"Yeah!"

She pinned him to the wall in an instant by his neck with her forearm. He grunted in shock and pain. She didn't care. All the anger she's been stewing in came out in a rush. How dare he? How dare he say she had everything? He knew nothing about her life. Absolutely nothing.

"You don't know me, you little shit! You know nothing about what I've been through!" she said. "You want to know so badly why I've been so bitchy and why I'm good at everything? Survival, idiot! My so called _mother_ left me! She left me with only a house because she had enough of me. Everyone eventually leaves me: my real parents, my fake parents, and my shallow friends. No one truly loves me, you little idiot! So yeah, I'm a good ninja because instead crying in my room like a little bitch about my life, I train and become popular!"

She was seeing red, not even seeing him anymore. After several deep, centering breaths she calmed herself after a few moments. She pulled away and sat back by herself. She buried her face in her folded arms resting on her tucked up knees. It felt like a weight was lifted off her chest. It was kind of liberating, yet it left her with a bitter after tastelessness in its wake. She hadn't told anyone out of shame and vanity. She liked to project a perfect life so no one would see her vulnerable. She learned the hardway what vulnerability and closeness did.

The silence dragged on. It seemed he was somewhat aware of social situations and knew when to shut up. She needed a breather and to gather her thoughts. And in doing so, a question kept nagging at her.

"Why did you try to be my friend for so long? I'm mean to you, and I can't make you popular because you're _that_ hated by everyone in the village. And it certainly wouldn't benefit me. You're annoying, and the girls wouldn't stand you."

"I thought if I could get the most popular girl to like me than I could get anyone to. Then, I realized you didn't hate me for the same reason the others hated me, and you're a really good ninja. It bothered me so much because you I thought you were just selfish, mean, and spoiled and everything was so easy for you. I wanted to be your rival and show you up! And that's still kind of true," he said candidly.

There was a short pause; then he smiled at her with a short giggle and a scratch at the back of his head. Her green eyes peered up at him. What could he possibly be laughing about? She might hit him. Hit him hard and give him a rightful concussion for making fun of her pain and vulnerability.

"I'm not satisfied with you just being my rival. You're going to be my best friend!" Naruto shouted.

It gave her the opportunity to go back to her usual self. After all, why would the most skilled and popular girl in the class of rookies be friends with the dead last loser of the group? It wouldn't make sense.

She smiled and said, without the viciousness mind you, "No way in hell."

"Oh come on," Naruto whined like his typical self. "I'll be your friend even when you're being a bitch. I won't get sick of you."

"Nope," she said with a growing smile as she held her head up high.

"We've got lots in common. We're both orphans a-and ninjas!"

"Not going to happen," she said but her smile was growing regardless.

Suddenly, there was a thud outside, shocking them out of their stupid banter. They jumped and looked towards the source. Then, the two of them glanced at each other and nodded once. Carefully, slowly, the two approached the entrance with their kunai drawn. Naruto slowly opened the ice sheet as Akane prepared to stab whoever it was.

"Ahh!" All of them squealed in fear.

Akane barely refrained from slitting Sasuke's throat when she realized who he was as he burst into their hideout. All of them stood stark still in confusion before relaxing. Naruto laughed incredulously to relieve the tension.

"Dammit, why couldn't you say it was you, Sasuke?" Akane said through a large sigh.

"I didn't know if it was you two."

They shut the sheet of ice firmly closed. They took a moment for a breather. Then, they looked at each, wondering how they were going to salvage this mess.


End file.
